


A Second Wind: Book One, A Legacy Found

by EmpressGeek



Series: A Second Wind [1]
Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (Comics), Sonic the Hedgehog (Video Games), Sonic the Hedgehog (universe comics, Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: A Second WInd, ASW, Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - because what fanfiction isn't?, Brothers, Chaos Emeralds, Chaos Energy, Family, Found Family, Grief/Mourning, Hybrids, Master Emerald, Most people are dead!, Mystery Character(s), Next Generation, Other, Sisters, Something that popped into my brain, Sonic The Hedgehog Next Generation, Team as Family, energylines, knuxouge-child, sonamy-child
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-26
Updated: 2020-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:41:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 32,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27728264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmpressGeek/pseuds/EmpressGeek
Summary: It had been twenty years since the events of the Phantom Ruby and almost fifteen since the Equinox War. The Chaos League, a team that was comprised of the best of Modius' heroes, have vanished off the face of the earth. Dead? Missing? Retired? Few know the truth. Now, a dark cloud rests over the land, as the tyranny of King Scourge rules. It's up to Zephyr, a young hedgehog to use his newfound powers to stop Scourge and avenge his lost family.
Series: A Second Wind [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2028239





	1. Prologue

A Second Wind  
Disclaimer: this is a fan story, with its own canon. Taking place 20 years after Forces. All official characters belong to Sega. Apologies for spelling and grammar errors, if any are there, I did my best to proof read.

It was dark. It was cold. The snow that fell from the chilly winter night sky may have been falling gently but to her it might have been a heavy hail. The icy winter winds nipped at her face, making warm stinging tears come to her eyes. But none of the pain the harsh environment caused her, could outgrow the pain in her heart. She started to run a little faster and held the brown bundle of blankets in her arms a little closer.

The shouts of people, no hunters, came from behind her. She knew they weren’t going to give up, no matter how far she ran; he wouldn’t stop. She knew why they wanted her; it was the same reason they wanted the others. It was all the same. But she had something even more precious than herself, and she wasn’t going to let them find it.

She jumped down a snowy cliff and landed into an icy snow drift that made her body sting with cold. She crawled out of the snow and quickly made her way to a small creek, that by some miracle was still flowing despite the cold. She knelt by the river’s edge and pulled a small basket from under her cloche. She placed the small brown bundle and a small cylinder capsule on a string into the basket, while whispering the words.

“I’m sorry.”

The basket was then placed into the river and was carried away. A great sorrow erupted from deep inside of her heart. Warm tears quickly flooded her eyes, and overflowed onto her cheeks, as she watched the basket flout down the river. She had only felt this pain once before, 10 months ago when another great loss struck her. But her sorrow could only last a few moments, as the voices of the hunters came close enough to be heard. Now, Fear gripped her spine, as well.

She jumped to her feet and ran through the river. Her tears of fear and sorrow froze on her face as she ran. But she wasn’t blind. When one of them jumped out in front of her, she threw herself to the ground sliding into his legs and flipped him over her. When he tried to get up, a mighty hammer came crashing down on to his head, knocking him out.

She stood over his unconscious body, holding her hammer, “That was for Vector and Charmy,” she said, her voice filled with confidence and pain.

The others came from behind her, but this time she didn’t run. She tightened her grip on the long handle of her hammer, twisted her hips and flung her hammer at them. They split, but only two of them managed to escape the flying hammer, the last one was hit in the chest and crashed into the snow. The other two pulled swords and lunged at her. She effortlessly slipped in between the swings of the metal blades. Once she put enough distance between them and her, she dashed toward one of the trees. She grabbed the thin trunk and kicked her legs around it and into one of her pursuer’s heads. The other pursuer tried to use the golden sword in his hand, but it was clear that he was scared and inexperienced. He lunged poorly, but she used her hand to whip the sword out of his hands all though it caused warm blood to soak through her white glove; turning it red. Now, that he was disarmed, it was her turn. She ran toward him her fist raised ready to destroy the scum who joined the monster who killed her friends, no her family. Jab, block, punch, cross; he fell to the ground. She stood over him, burning pain and fiery rage in her eyes. Ready to end him, but then the very hammer she had used to protect others for so many years, struck her in the stomach. She fell to the ground. Her torso ached, not just from the blow but from the pain the of now ruptured stitches. Warm blood leaked from the stitches, through her dress and onto the snow. The two of them now stood over her, one, a Jackal, was smiling with her hammer over his shoulder and the other, a rabbit that was holding his left arm. She couldn’t even look at them. She was sure this was the end.

“Well, well looks like we found one, a genuine leaguer,” said the Rabbit. Although he tried to hide it, there was a quiver of fear in his voice.

“I-I Don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said coldly, but there was a small shudder of pain in in her voice as she was clutching her now bleeding stomach.

“Oh, don’t be so modest! Now which one are you? Clearly not the Thief or the Goddess, no wings or magic.” The one with her hammer boomed as he reached for her hood.

She tried to move away but his rough hand grabbed the back of her brown hood, and yanged it down, revealing her soft pink quills, pulled back in to a high pony tail, instead of her usual bob. She glared at them with hatred burning in her deep, green, almost turquois, eyes. It was clear who she was.

“Well, it looks like we got the Heart, or do we call you by your true name? Miss Amy Rose?” said the Jackal in a mocking tone. “oh, wait I’m sorry I mean Mrs. Amy Rose Hedgehog. Or can we even call you that now that So-”

“DON’T SAY THAT NAME! YOU DON’T DESERVE TO SAY THAT NAME!” Amy shouted, as a new crop of warm tear came to sting her eyes. She tried to lunge at them but the pain of the ripped stitches caused her to double over again. “Y-you don’t deserve t-to s-say that name.”

“HAHA! This is the mighty, Amy Rose?” the Jackal laughed.

She sighed “What do you want?” Amy said quietly.

“What?” said the rabbit.

“WHAT DO YOU WANT? You didn’t just follow me in to the woods, for no reason and if you wanted me dead then you have already killed me,” said Amy.

“Oh, nothing much, it’s just that his majesty wants to see you.” Said the Jackal.

“Oh, he wants to see me? AFTER ALL HE HAS DONE TO ME! HE THINKS HE CAN JUST SEE ME?! HE’S TAKEN MY HOME, MY FAMILY, MY LOVE! EVERYTHING! Everything.” Said Amy. “If he wants to see me then you have to kill me first. The only ways he is going to see me is as a corpse, or as his killer.” 

“Wow, the legends always said you have a temper,” said the Rabbit, “Now, don’t makes this difficult.”

“I’M NOT GOING AND TH-” Amy shouted, but she would never finish that sentence, the hammer was swung, hitting her head, and sending her now unconscious body crashing onto the snow.

“What are you two doing?” said, a brown cat that walked up from behind them, “His majesty wanted her alive and unharmed!”

“Whoops,” said the Jackal.

“Hey, it’s not like she was going to come willingly,” said the Rabbit.

“It doesn’t matter! We have orders. Come on let’s hope that we can keep at least one of those conditions,” said the Cat.

The three of them lifted Amy off of the ground and carried her away. Only leaving the blood and tear-soaked snow behind. After that night, Amy Rose was never seen again, dead or alive. Another hero was now gone, but not all hope was lost.  
______________________________________________________________________ 

Through forest and field, the small basket flowed down the river. The rocking motion kept the cargo it carried quiet, so no one payed it much mind. Until it came to the Redwood forest Zone. 

Two young wolves, one had dark chocolate brown fur that shone in the sun light, and large ruby red eyes, the other had golden fur and bright green eyes. They were down by the river bank to fish and harvest the cranberries that grew in the lake nearby. 

The chocolate wolf waded through the river when the sound of an infant’s cry rang through the woods. Her heart jumped to her throat, and ran toward the cries while shouting, “Tom come quick!”

She ran downstream, and saw the small brown basket going down the small rapids that lied a little further downstream. She ran toward the crying basket but when she was only a few feet away, one of the stronger rapids capsized the basket and the cries stopped, with a deafening, *splash*. Fear gripped her heart as she rushed to pick up the small bundle of now soaked blankets.

She pulled the bundle apart, revealing a newborn hedgehog, no more than two weeks old. He had soft blue quills and fur. A small group of stray quills, fell over his onto face and unlike the other quills their tips were frosted with the faintest hint of pale pink. He was still as stone, and she feared that she was now carrying a drowned baby. But she blew air into his sweet little face, and he began cough.

“Hello, little one,” the chocolate wolf said. The little hedgehog looked at the wolf, with large deep green almost turquois eyes, before bursting into scared and hungry tears. She cradled him close and began to rock and comfort him. 

“shh, shh, its okay little one I’m here, I’m here.” She whispered to him.

“Madi! What’s going on!” called the golden wolf as he ran toward her from up stream.

“Tom! I found a baby!” she shouted to her husband while still trying to calm the little boy.

“You found a what?” he said with surprise. He came closer to his wife and she showed him the little blue newborn hedgehog. His bright green eyes widen at the little one, and he quickly took off his coat and handed it to his wife so she could wrap the little boy in it.

“How, did he get in the river? Hedgehogs don’t usually live in the area,” Tom asked with worry and bewilderment in his voice.

“I think he was abandoned; he was in a basket that was flouting down the river. No one does that to a baby unless they’re trying to get rid of it.” Madi said with sorrow, as she wrapped the newborn in her husband’s coat. “poor thing.” 

Suddenly something fell out of the wet bundles in to the river. Tom quickly reaching into the river and fished out what fell. It was the small cylinder capsule. 

"what is this?” Tom questioned.  
Tom open the small capsule and pulled out a rolled piece of paper that had writing on both sides. He unrolled the paper and began to read.

“‘To whomever finds this note and my son,  
I can’t tell you how grateful I am that you found my little boy. I would keep him, but our home has become unsafe for an infant. I hope that you can find a good home for him. Please don’t hide this letter from him I want him to know that I didn’t leave him by choice. I hope that you take good care of my baby, of my little Zephyr.  
A.R.H’” 

Tom flipped the letter over and began to read the other side.

“‘To my son,  
I’m sorry that I had to leave you like I did, and I hope that one day you are able to forgive me for this. Know that I love you, and that if things were different, I would have kept cradling you in my arms. Leaving you was one of the hardest things I ever had to do, and one of my greatest regrets will always be that I didn’t got to see you grow up. One day when our home is safe again, I will come looking for you, and if I don’t live to see that day, know that I will always be with you in spirit. I love you Zephyr.  
A.R.H’”

“Zephyr?” Madi turned to the baby in her arms, “Is that your name? Zephyr?”

“A.R.H? Must be one of his parents’ initials.” Said Tom, still examining the letter. He looked up at his wife, “What are we going to do with him?”

“What are we going to do? Tom! We’re going to take care of him. He doesn’t have anyone. He needs us. We always wanted a child anyways.” Said Madi.

“Madi, look at him he’s a hedgehog, we’re wolves. We won’t know how to take care of him. Besides if we journey up river we might be able to find his real family.” Said Tom.

“Did you even read the letter? It said that their home was too dangerous to raised a baby in. If it had been safe, he would still be with his mother, and not here with us. She sent him away to keep him safe, if we send him back it her work would have been for nothing.” Said Madi.

Tom looked at his wife, he looked at the ruby eyes with the look of longing in them. He looked at the way she cradled the newborn. His heart began to melt, they have been trying for a child for years and were never successful. Maybe this was why, because this little hedgehog was supposed to be theirs.  
He took a deep breath and said, “I guess he is kind of cute.” He tickled the little one and for the first time the little Hedgehog smiled.


	2. Discovery

“‘One day when our home is safe again, I will come looking for you, and if I don’t live to see that day, know that I will always be with you in spirit. I love you Zephyr.’ Zephyr. Besides for a short letter my name was the last thing my mother gave me before she left. That was all I knew but now something had happened that gave me too many questions to count.” Zephyr thought. He was zipping through the fields, appearing as a blue blur.

Zephyr stopped to rest for a few moments, well he tried to anyways. He may have been very good at going forward with his super speed, however turning and stopping were two completely different stories. His legs curled underneath him, sending him flying, he then tumbled on the ground for a few feet, before finally screeching to a halt; on his face. Zephyr let out a tired groan, then picked himself up and brushed off all the dirt and grass.

Zephyr laid himself on the grass, a little way from the newly made face-shaped hole. He began to fiddle with the small cylinder capsule tided around his neck, that held his mother letter; he never took it off. He quickly became immersed in his own thoughts, most of them questions about his parents, not just his birthparents, but his foster parents. He hated that he had to leave them, but he couldn’t put them in anymore danger. Did they miss him? 

At that instant, his thoughts were interrupted by his stomach roaring with hunger. Zephyr sighed and opened the small brown bag he had with him. He took only a small apple from it and ate it with dread. He only had three of them left and no money. The apples could last normal people maybe two days. After he discovered his speed a meal that used to last him three hours, would now only last him twenty minutes. What he had was only going to last him the rest of the afternoon, at most. If he tried to make them last any longer his would have dizzy spells and possibly collapse.

Zephyr closed his eyes, and let himself fall into his thoughts once more. “I was raised by the Whitefangs, a wolf couple who owned a restaurant in the small woodland village of Birchtown. They were kind enough, and I’m grateful to them for giving me the love of a family but recently something strange happened and it made me want my birth parents. If not for love, then for answers. Answers to questions I didn’t even know I had.

"The first thing that made me want answers, happened on a normal hot summer afternoon. I was sweeping the outdoor dining area, and watching Lily Lightbright, play in the street. She was a small violet wolf who lived next door. When out of nowhere, a large truck zoomed around the corner and charged down the street heading right for Lily. My heart jumped to my throat, I dropped the broom and felt a sudden jolt of electricity go through me. The next thing I knew, I was on the other side of the street, with Lily in my arms and wind blasting all around us.

"I didn’t tell my parents what happened; because I didn’t really know what happened. And I didn’t find out until I went into the woods a few days later, to run. I always ran to calm down, but this time it was different. It started out normal but then I started getting faster and faster, until I was going faster than sound itself. The feeling of the wing blasting in my face and flowing through my quills, the lightning bolts that surrounded me in a protective shield, and the pitter-patter of my feet on the forest floor; I wanted it to never end. I felt so free.

"I will never forget that moment... 

"...and then that moment ended. I didn’t even see the cliff until it was ten feet behind me. Then I realized, I was falling down into the lake where the village fished or what was left of it. It hadn’t rained in the last six months and with the intense summer heat, it was mostly dried up. When I got back home, I had to take a 3-hour bath to get the mud out of my fur; I had never seen Pa looked so surprised.

"After that I had my answer. I had gifts, superpowers, magic. It was incredible, but as much as I wanted tell my parents, I couldn’t. By the order of King Scourge, all people with magic were sent away to special camps where they learned to control their “curses” as they called them. Anyone who went there didn’t come back. I was scared that something might happen to them if I told them, if I told anyone. So, I started to sneak out in the middle of the night to run. I didn’t think they would find me this way, but I was wrong. I had just returned from one of my nightly runs and curled up in my bed, when the sirens started. Ma and Pa told me to stay in the house; they should have known better. I quietly followed them and hid behind a table in the restaurant's outdoor dining area. Outside was a squad of imperial soldiers, these soldiers only took orders from the king. Although I couldn’t hear everything they said, I could make out enough. They had been sent to find an unreported magic user and bring them in. Someone had seen me.

"The next few days after the soldiers came, I just stayed inside. It wasn’t safe to go out. The soldiers would pull people off the street at random and interrogate them. At one point they walked into the restaurant and started to terrorize the customers. Pa tried to asked them to leave, but then they attacked him; he was lucky to only get a black eye. I couldn’t stay there anymore, not just for my own safety but for my family and neighbors. One night I packed my bag and left a letter to Ma and Pa. Then I ran through the streets to lead the soldiers out of Birchtown. I hope Ma and Pa will understand. Now, I’m here looking for answers, that might not exist and looking for people who might not be around anymore. No don’t think that, you have to still have hope Zephyr. You have to still have hope.” His eyelids slipped down and he fell into a fitful sleep.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Zephyr was running through a forest; it was nighttime and snow blanketed the ground. The trees were tall, strait, and thin and seemed to be holding up the starless sky. He stopped without falling and looked around. The snow looked different, it didn’t shine like the last winter’s had, it was dull. He was surrounded by snow and ice but he didn’t feel cold. He put the thoughts of the dull snow and ambiance of cold out of his mind and continued to walk.  
Snow gently began to fall, and the once still night air began to whip and whirl. “I need to get inside, before this gets worse,” he thought.

He continued to trek through the ever-growing deeper snow. Suddenly something caught his eye, something that no matter how heavy it snowed, or how strong the wind howled they could not hide it. He went towards it and soon he could see it clearly; it was a patch of snow stained red with blood. A chill went up his spine. He looked up, there wasn’t only one bloodstain, but a trail. He followed the them wondering if someone was in trouble. The longer he followed the trail the stronger the winds and heavier the snow became. After a while he thought that the trail was never going to end, but suddenly a faint green light shined from up ahead. Panting, Zephyr continued to followed the trail knowing he was almost there. The trail led through a break in the trees, strait to the glow.

He broke through the trees into a clearing, the heavy snow suddenly stopped and the harsh wind went still. Inside the clearing was a gruesome sight. Corpses, corpse were everywhere, all of them freshly killed as the blood that stained the snow was bright red. All different species, a fox, a bee, a wolf, and many more. All soaked in blood, all lying on the ground, dead. Zephyr just stood there, his mouth agape, his heart pounding. What had done this? 

“Help! Help!” Someone shouted from up ahead. 

Zephyr shoved down the fear he felt and began to make his way through the field of corpses; careful not to step on any of them. 

“HELP! HELP!” The voice was closer.

He ran up over a snow drift and found himself staring at what looked like a creature made of green fire. The creature was holding a blade to the throat of a what appeared to be a young woman dressed in a dark brown cloak.  
The cloaked woman, quickly turned her head, “Zephyr,” she whispered.

Zephyr stared at the woman; how did she know his name? Although her face was hidden by the cloak’s hood, there was something familiar about her. “Mom? Is that you?” he asked.

“ZEPHYR! RUN!! DON’T LET HIM TOUCH YOU!” she shouted.

The Creature made of green fire, turned sharply to look at Zephyr, its burning red eyes piercing his soul. It quickly lost interest in its victim, and lunged toward Zephyr, blade swinging. Zephyr quickly turned around and started to run, turning into a blue blur. The creature followed suit going almost as fast as zephyr and when it couldn’t catch up to him it would send blasts of green fire hurdling towards him. Zephyr dodged the fire blasts, while trying stay ahead of the creature. A feat that was very difficult for him as he couldn’t maneuver very well.

He tried to make a hard right, but he slipped on the snow. Zephyr was sent tumbling down into the snow. The creature quickly caught up to him. He looked up into the burning red eyes, the creature much more intimidating up close. Zephyr couldn’t move as the creature readied itself for a final fire blast. “This was it,” he thought.

Right before the creature shot the fatal blast, the cloaked woman, his mother, jumped in front of him. She screamed in agony, as the green flames licked her body and slowly burned her away. The smell of burning flesh and fur, quickly filled the air. “NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!” Zephyr shouted.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Zephyr jolted awake, screaming. He was drenched in a cold sweat, and gasping for breath. He was still on the hill although now it was covered in starlight.

“Whoa, didn’t mean to scare you, kiddo,” said a voice from behind him.

“What?” Zephyr turned around. Standing behind him was elderly orange raccoon, with dark but kind eyes.

“Oh, no sir you didn’t startle me. It was just nightmare.” Zephyr reassured the stranger and himself a little bit, before his stomach started to growl again.

“Well, it sounds like you need something to eat, come on my truck isn’t too far from here.” Said the raccoon.

Zephyr got up and followed the old raccoon, letting his stomach guide him. His stomach led him to a dust banged-up truck, clearly over twenty-years-old. The raccoon went to the bed in the back, and gestured for Zephyr to sit with him. Zephyr joined him, as he pulled out two sandwiches and two scones.

“Thank you,” Zephyr said, as he took the sandwich and scone he was handed. “Are you sure you can share with me? You don’t even know me.”

“Of course, I won’t be able to eat all this myself no matter how hard I try.” Said the raccoon.

“Well, if you insist, thank you Mr. uh,” said Zephyr, with uncertainty.

“Oh, Neavel the name is Neavel,”

“Thank you, Mr. Neavel,” Zephyr took a bite of the sandwich. The unusual flavor made his face scrunch up for a moment. He hoped that Neavel didn’t noticed, he didn't want to seem disrespectful but to his surprised the raccoon began to laugh.

“Sorry, I should have warned you. My wife is a great woman, but didn’t marry her for her cooking.” laughed the old raccoon.

“What did she put on this?” Zephyr started to inspect the sandwich.

“ketchup and baloney.”

“Yeah, that’s not good flavor combination.”

“I’ll pass that info on to her,” Neavel laughed again. “I don’t think the scones will be any better. Most of her baked good are hard as rocks.”

Zephyr picked up his scone, and broke it in half. It was tough and crumbling. “Does she use any baking powder?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Well, there’s your problem.”

Neavel laughed again, “You’re one funny boy, what your name?”

“Zephyr sir.”

“Well it’s a pleasure Zephyr. Can I ask why you are out here? It not safe for a kid out at night.”

Zephyr told his story to Neavel, leaving the part about his powers out, while eating the odd tasting sandwich. Neavel seemed to be listening with great interest.

“So, you’re on the road now, looking for your birth family?” Neavel asked.

“Yeah, pretty much. There are just some things I need answers too and my birth family are the only people that might have them.”

“So how are you going to find them if you don’t know where you are originally from?”

“I’m just going to keep going up stream.”

“that’s not going to get you anywhere. About four miles upstream another river joins this one. And who’s to say your mom didn’t travel far from her home to send you away.”

Zephyr looked at the ground. He never thought of these possibilities. The river was his only lead, the letter his mother left him didn’t describe anything about their home, except that had recently became too dangerous. The odds were completely against him.

Neavel looked at the young hedgehog in front of him, seeing the worry on his face. “But there is a town called Equinox City a little way up the river. If you need a ride, I’ll take you there. Maybe your mom was from there.” Said Neavel.

“Yes, I could use one. Thank you, Mr. Neavel.” Zephyr said with hope in his eyes; not as much as before but it was still there.

Throughout the night Zephyr rode in the back of Neavel’s truck. The drive was strange to Zephyr, sure he had been in cars before but after learning about his powers, it just felt slow and unnatural. He did enjoy watching the washed in starlight country side as it passed by, but eventually he fell asleep in the bed of the truck.

________________________________________________________________________________________ 

It was late morning when they finally made to the Equinox City. Zephyr said goodbye to Neavel and thanked him once again. He entered into the city; Zephyr had never seen anything like it before. The tall stone and metal buildings seemed to hold up the sky; they were nothing like the small wooden builds back in Birchtown. The people there were different as well. Everyone was dashing all over the place and their expressions were unpleasant, while back home the people walked slowly and had smiles on their faces. 

Zephyr began to search for any sign of his birth family. He asked around the town all day. He went to the police. He went to the hospitals. He went to city hall. He even went to the library, although he wasn’t too fond of books, especially non-fiction. However, by the time the sun was starting to set, he had found nothing. No one recognized the letter and there was no birth certificate for a Zephyr with A.R.H as a parent’s initials. He was beginning to think that his birth family had nothing to do with this city. 

He rounded the corner of 4th Street and Phoenix Ave when he heard the sirens of an imperial truck. Zephyr looked up to see one storming down the street and countless people running to get out of the way. Zephyr couldn’t help but duck behind some trash cans in a nearby ally; he didn’t want to be seen. Zephyr looked out from his hiding place, and watched as the people ran to get out of the way, but amongst the moving crowd a single figure that remained still. The figure was wearing black legging, jean shorts, a dark green sleeveless jacket with the hood up, and strange looking shoes that had discs on the outsides. Zephyr couldn’t tell what species he was, but he was sure that the figure had black fur. “Either this guy is brave or completely insane,” He thought.

The imperial truck stopped fifteen away from the figure. “Hey Buddy!” shouted an imperial guard as he stepped out of the truck. “Can you get out of the way? Your kind of in the way of the king’s order.”

The figure remained still.

“OK, I need you to get out of the way!”

The figure turned around and started to walk down the street; he was mocking them.

“ARE YOU DEAF!? GET OUT OF THE ROAD!” Anger was starting to ring in the soldier’s voice.

The figure kept walking, paying no mind to the soldier.

"OK, I DIDN’T WANT TO DO THIS,” the soldier pulled a weapon that looked like a silvery crossbow, that didn’t need arrows to shoot. “PUT YOUR HANDS UP, AND TURN AROUND! YOU UNDER ARREST FOR DEFINING THIS KING’S GUARD!”

The figure stopped, but didn’t turn around or raise his hands. The guard had enough and fired the silvery crossbow. A bright white energy blast headed straight for the figure, but before it could hit him there was a flash of bright blue light. The figure was gone and, in their place, a smoldering scorch mark.

“HE’S CURSED!” Shouted one of the soldiers.

A second later the figure appeared in another bright blue flash behind the imperial truck; thirty feet in the air. they flung their arm across their body as if they were throwing something and the truck exploded in a bright green light. The figure dropped to the ground and suddenly became a glowing became a glowing purple blur that rush down the street at an incredible speed.

“He’s like me,” Zephyr thought, before he used his own speed to catch up to this mysterious individual.

Down the streets, and out of the city, Zephyr chased them. Once Zephyr got close enough, he saw that the figure wasn’t running. Zephyr looked down at their feet, the discs that previously were stuck on the side of their shoes were now hovering two inches from the outside of the shoes; they weren’t discs at all, they were wheels. Their speed didn’t come from their legs like Zephyr’s, it came from their shoes. They were nothing but a faker.

The chase continued in to the country side outside of the Refuge City. Zephyr although upset that they weren’t truly fast, he was still intimated by them, so he didn’t run directly up to their face but rather followed close behind. Zephyr now had a better look of the figure, and he noticed another strange detail. On the Figure’s left arm just below their shoulder, was a small white Tattoo? Birthmark? He couldn’t tell. It looked like a triangle, that was separated into four smaller triangles. The three on the outside each seemed to be covered in something, but he couldn’t tell what. While the triangle in the center had a Yin and Yang symbol inside of it. Zephyr was intrigued by this symbol, it felt familiar, like he had seen it before. However, he didn’t notice that he was getting closer to the Figure or the root he was about to run into. He suddenly tripped. He flew forward and landed in the path of the Figure, tripping them in the process. Both of them were sent tumbling to the ground.

“Oh, my gosh, I’m so sorry,” Zephyr said as he lifted himself off the ground. he turned toward the figure, “I didn’t mean…to?”

Zephyr was shocked, the figure that had blown up an imperial truck was nothing but a girl, that looked only a few years older than him. She at first glance, she looked like a hedgehog but the more he looked at her something seemed different. Her fur was black as night, her quills were half held up and had purple-ish indigo stripes on them, and her fierce yet gentle eyes were a beautiful brown. Even with her stoic expression, she was very beautiful.

“No problem,” she spoke in a calm, hollow voice, as if this happened every day.

“She talked to me! Crap! Quick! Think of something that doesn’t sound stupid! Oh, Crap! Oh, Crap! Oh, Crap! Oh, Crap!” Zephyr Panicked inside, he had very little experience with girls around his age.

“It’s my fault anyway. I didn’t see you,” the dark girl said.

“Uh…. I-It’s fine. I-I should have known better than to get that close especially since I saw you… Wait! I-I wasn’t watching you! I mean I kind of was, but not like that! not like a stalker!” Zephyr stammered.

The dark girl’s expression remained stoic “Did he hit his head or something?” she thought.

Zephyr continued to ramble, and apologizing for his rambling, when there was a faint rumble. Zephyr didn’t hear it, but the dark girl was well aware. She looked around the sunset lit forest, searching for the rumble that was slowly getting louder. After a few moments she found it, Right behind Zephyr. It was a large boulder, that was hurdling towards them. Her eyes slightly widened, and she leaped forward pushing herself and Zephyr out the way, “LOOK OUT!”

The two of them were sent tumbling down the hill. Zephyr landed on top of her, and began to panic again, but before he could get off of her and apologize, someone rammed into him and shouted in a light, jazzy voice “GET OFF OF HER YOU CREEP SHE’S ONLY 13 YEARS OLD!”

Zephyr was suddenly pinned against a nearby tree with his arms pressed against his back. He looked behind him to see another girl. What was she? She had wings like a bat, and bright red spines, like an echidna’s, styled in low pigtails.

“Mari are you ok?” said a small voice that came from behind the red girl. It was a little fox, that had two tails. His fur was mostly tangerine orange, with the rest being a light lemony yellow. On his left eye was a birthmark that looked like a grease stain, and his tails had dark rings right before their lemony yellow tips.

“I’m fine, Sparky,” said, the dark girl.

As the little fox watched The Dark girl get up off the ground and the red girl pining the now squirming Zephyr against a tree, something caught his eye. It was the small cylinder capsule; the string had broken when the red girl pushed Zephyr off of The Dark girl and fell off. The little fox went towards it and picked it up. “what’s this?”

Zephyr looked back at the little fox and started to squirm even more. “That’s mine! Put it down!”

The little fox opened the capsule and took out the letter, his eyes widen almost immediately at the letter. “Mari, you need see this,” He said with shock.

Zephyr squirmed even harder, as The Dark girl took the letter, but the red girl’s grip was strong. He squirmed and squirmed until his started vibrating, although he didn’t notice. The red girl screeched and released him. In a flash, Zephyr grabbed the letter out of The Dark girl’s hand and dashed off. He only heard someone says “Catch him” as he was running off, but suddenly there was a bright blue flash and he was pinned to the ground, this time by The Dark girl.

“How did you do that?” he shouted.

“Ever hear of teleportation? Speedster,” The Dark girl said as she pulled the letter out of Zephyr’s hand. She looked at the letter for a few moments, her eyes widen as well, though not as much as the little fox’s. “Where did you get this?”

Before Zephyr could answer the red girl and the little fox came running up to The Dark girl

“Mari! Nice Job! You caught him,” shouted the red girl.

“Never mind that Angie! Am I nuts?” said the little fox.

“Usually, but not on this,” The Dark girl said, she turned back to Zephyr, “Now where did you get this?”

“My mother gave it to me, it was last thing she gave me before she abandoned me.” Said Zephyr.

The others looked at each other with shock.

“Now, can you let me up? I promise not to run away.” 

The Dark girl thought about the this for a moment before letting him go; even if he tried to run away, he wouldn’t get far.

“Can I have letter back?” He asked.

“Not until we can confirm your story,” The Dark girl said coldly.

“What? I promise you I’m telling the truth!”

“Your words mean nothing.”

“Oh, my gosh, Mari, stop reacting and think! You saw his speed how could he be anyone else. Besides if he was lying, you’d know.” Said the red girl.

“That doesn’t mean we can trust him,” said The Dark girl.

“Excuse me, who do you think I am?” Zephyr interjected.

“You don’t know?” said the red girl.

“Know wh…”

“Hush,” The Dark girl cut Zephyr off.

There was a sudden clicking sound coming from the forest around them. It was a sound that The Dark girl, the little fox and the red girl knew all too well.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

She sat on a rocker, watching the sunset over the sea, and her young nephew play on the porch next to her. A sudden shiver went up her spine, and she let out a small gasp. She grabbed her the gemstone handle of her cane and limped over to the railing of the porch. Her long golden quills flowing behind her.

“Something’s not right,” she whispered, as her pale blue eyes stared into the horizon, wondering.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

“Poison Feeders,” The little fox whispered.

“Sparky, Angie, time to go,” The Dark girl whispered.

“Wait, what about him?” The Red Girl asked.

“what about him?” The Dark girl said.

“If he’s him can just leave him.”

The clicks grew louder and more metallic.

“We’re surrounded,” The little fox whispered.

“OK, well take him with us, but you explain it to her. Angie, give me the emerald,” The Dark girl whispered.

“What makes you think I have one,” said the red girl. 

“Really?” The dark girl raised one of her brows. 

“Ok, fine,” the red girl pulled a purple diamond cut gemstone out of her skirt.

“Where did you get that?” The little fox Said with wide eyes.

“Um the vault.”

“Did she give you permission?”

“Not exactly.”

“Mari, Angie we’re going to be in so much trouble.” the little fox put his hand on his head.

The clicking suddenly intensified into a roar like sound, and out of the brush, leaped a giant metal snake. It had a dark aura surrounding it and it seemed to freeze Zephyr in his place. The snake lunged at him, but the red girl leaped forward and punch the metal snake in the face; it was sent flying.

“MARI GET US OUT OF HERE!” she shouted, as she threw the purple gemstone at The Dark girl.

The Dark girl caught the gem stone, and raised it in the air, “chaos control,” she whispered. Suddenly the gemstone sparkled, and a bright white light quickly envelope the four of them.

Zephyr opened his eyes; the white flash was gone and so was the forest. He was lying in a field, with the distance sound of the ocean in his ears. The red girl, the little fox, and The Dark girl were around him, all lifting themselves off the ground.  
“MARI!” shouted someone.

Zephyr looked up to see a little boy running toward The Dark girl. His fur was crimson, with a little tuft of black chest fluff. His quills flipped up, with black stripes. On his arm in the same spot as The Dark girl’s was the strange Triangle symbol, all though his gold, not white. He watched as the little boy ran right up to The Dark girl and hugged her. Then the little boy looked towards Zephyr, his eyes were different colors, one was blood red, while the other was a bright blue that shimmered like an oasis.

The Dark girl noticed the little boy was staring at Zephyr, “Come on baby, let’s go inside,” she said as she lifted the little boy in her arms and began to walk toward a large wooden mansion, that was half inside of a white stone cliff and half outside and covered in vines.

“MARISOL SHADE!” shouted an older hedgehog, that was limping towards the group, with a cane in her hand. Her long golden quills shining in the dying sun’s light.

“I told you we were going to get in trouble,” The little fox whispered.

“Chaos control?! What have I told you about using chaos control?! Why did you even have an emerald in first place?!” said the golden hedgehog.

“Aunt Maria, I’m sorry but I had no choice,” said The Dark girl.

“Oh, I’ve heard that one before. I swear child sometimes I don’t think I can keep the promise I made to your father.”

"Aunt Maria, I know your upset but you need to see this,” said the red girl, while The Dark girl handed the golden hedgehog the Letter.

“If this is another one of your pranks I don’t…” she glanced at the letter and her eyes widen, “where did you get this?”

“That would be mine,” Zephyr spoke up.

The golden hedgehog looked up finally noticing the blue stranger. His quills, his build, if it wasn’t for that patch of stray quills and his eyes, he would look identical to…

“Dear Chaos…” she whispered, “Marisol take the others inside and get started on dinner.”

“Aunt Maria?” Said The red girl.

“Inside now,” the golden hedgehog ordered.

The Dark girl, the little fox, the red girl and the little boy quickly obeyed and started to walk toward the wooden mansion. But the golden hedgehog stopped the red girl when she walked past her. “Angie?” she said. The red girl sighed and reluctantly gave the purple gemstone to her. "Thought so."

The golden hedgehog began to approach Zephyr, even though she was using a cane and limping she still looked intimidating. Her pale blue eyes staring directly at Zephyr. “What is your name, child?” she asked, her voice calm and collected.

“Zephyr,” he replied quietly.

“Zephyr, where did you get this letter?”

“My mother left it with me when she abandoned me. Now if I can have it back, I’ll leave and never tell anyone about whatever that was. Please, I need it to find her.”

“Well, I don’t think further searching is necessary, you’ve found what you’re looking for.”

Zephyr’s hear seemed to stop; Had he found her? “Are you my mother?” he asked with hope in his voice.

“Oh, heavens no child."

Zephyr looked at the ground, disappointment in his eyes.

“But I did know her.”

“You did? Do you know where she is?” Zephyr said now full of hope once again.

She sighed, “Follow me.” 

Zephyr followed the golden hedgehog as she led to a flight of stairs on the white stone cliff that seemed to be eating part of the wooden mansion. 

“Zephyr, are you aware of the League of Chaos?” she asked as they walked up the stone steps.

“Uh, yeah. Who isn’t?”

“What do you know of them?”

“Um, they were a team of heroes with incredible powers, that fought to protect the planet in times of great danger.”

“Very good, do you know the members?”

“Yeah, The Runner, The Engineer, The Guardian, The Heart, The Thief, The Half Breed, The Knight, The Goddess, The Traveler, The Flame, The Pirate, The Soldier, The Puppet, The Mercenary, The Detective, The Spark, The Ninja, The Alien, The Giant and The Light, but they’re all just legend, Right?” Zephyr said as they reached to top of the stairs and walked onto a round stone platform.

The platform was a perfect circle that had stone pillars with names inscribed on them lining the outer edge. In the center was a much smaller pillar that had a small hole on top of it.

“The league? Oh, the league was very real Zephyr. You wouldn’t be here if the league didn’t exist.” the golden hedgehog said as she limped over to the center pillar and pulled the blue diamond cut gemstone from the top of her cane and placed it in the small hole on top of the pillar.

The pillar started to light up and bright green energy lines shot out of its sides and struck the other pillars. Some other pillars began to produce holograms of all sorts of creatures. Not all of them did. The holograms were greatly detailed, from far off you would have mistaken them for real people. Only close up could you see the strange haze coating them, that made them different form real life.

Zephyr was amazed at the incredible sight before him, when the golden hedgehog took him by the shoulder. She led him to a pillar off to the right, with the hologram of a Pink hedgehog, with deep green almost turquoise eyes. Just like his.

“This is your mother,” The golden hedgehog said. “Her name was Amy Rose, well Amy Rose Hedgehog after she married your father; she was the Heart.”

She took him by the shoulder again and led him to a pillar in the center of all the others, it had a hologram of a blue hedgehog with bright green eyes. He stood tall and strong, with a look of determination on his face.

“This is your father; his name was Sonic the Hedgehog.” she said.

“Wait, Sonic the Hedgehog? My father was Sonic the Hedgehog? And he was part of the league? And so, was my mom?” Zephyr asked.

“Yes, they were. Founding members actually.”

“Then why doesn’t anyone seem to know that he was part of the league? I’ve heard his name before but it never associated with the league.”

“That would be the doing of King Scourge, when he came to power, he separated the identities of the leaguers from their real names. In order to keep them as legends rather than real people.”

“So, my parents were heroes, they were leaguers. This is crazy! This explains everything! Why I have powers! Why I love Chilidogs! Why I hate bullies!” Zephyr said with more and more enthusiasm.

The golden hedgehog laughed, “You are your father’s son alright.”

“Are they here?” Zephyr’s eyes shown with wonder. They looked so similar to his mother’s…

With that question the golden hedgehog’s warm smile quickly faded away and was replaced with a solemn face.

“What’s wrong?” Zephyr asked looking worried. 

“When a leaguer dies, the hologram on their pillar is activated.” She said quietly.

Zephyr’s heart dropped, “W-what are your saying?”

The golden hedgehog took a deep breath, “11 years ago, when the Master Emerald was destroyed, it sent out an energy wave made of pure chaos. Your father was to close when this happened. He- He was incinerated.” 

“What about my mother?” Zephyr, asked with pleading eyes.

“A week after you were born your mother left us and took you with her. We searched for her for months until we got word that...that she was captured.”

“Captured? By who?”

“Scourge.”

“What? Why would King Scourge capture her?”

“Don’t call that horrid hedgehog a king. He has no honor. Zephyr why do you think that the leaguers are gone? Why aren’t they here to protect people anymore?”

“Because Kin… Scourge disbanded them, when he came of age and took his throne, because the world was safe.”

“Is that the lie you were told? Oh, Zephyr, he didn’t disband them, he killed them. Scourge wasn’t some long-lost heir to a dead kingdom. He was a criminal that rose to power by force. The league was sent to stop him, but that’s not what happened. One by one the league was killed off, by stabbing, plane crash, drowning and turning our own power against us. He’s an enemy that lusts for the kill.”

“Why?”

“Because, we were a threat, Zephyr. A threat to his rise to power and threats needed to be eliminated.”

“Wait, you said my mother was captured. Why is her hologram up?”

“Zephyr.”  
“S-she could still be out there!”

“ZEPHYR! Scourge doesn’t keep prisoners, not for long at least.” The golden hedgehog glanced back at another hologram to the left. “I’m sorry child, but your parents are gone.”

Zephyr began to breath shakily, and tears started to come to his eyes, “I-I always knew this was a possibility, t-that they might be gone, but I never wanted to believe it. Now, I-I have to.”

The golden Hedgehog stepped forward and pulled Zephyr into a warm and comforting embrace. “Shh, dry your tears. I know it hurts. This pain will pass, although slowly, it will pass. If it helps; we never stopped looking for you, even after your mother was captured. We never thought you perished.”

Knowing that they never stopped looking, never stopped believing in him, was comforting, but the sorrow in his heart was too strong. “What am I going to do now?”

“As far I can tell you have two choices. You can either go home, forget all about your powers and this place, or you can stay here, learn about your powers and your family.” She pulled away from Zephyr to remove the blue gemstone from the center pillar. “You don’t have decide right now, and you are welcome to stay with us until you do.” 

Zephyr, watched as the holograms faded away when the gemstone was removed; watched as his parents faded away. His heart ached with the loss of people he didn’t even know, but that didn’t matter. They were his parents they gave him life; they gave him powers; they gave him their lives.

“Zephyr are you coming?” the golden hedgehog asked as she started to walked down the steps. He slowly followed her, his shattered world still trying to put itself back together.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

“Don’t worry about other children,” she said as they walked up on to the wooden porch of the mansion, “They have all known loss as well.”

“They’re the kids of the other members, aren’t they?” 

“They are.” She said solemnly.

“Thank you for letting me stay, uhm what should I call you?” Zephyr, asked timidly.

“You may call me what the others call me, Aunt Maria.”

“Well, thank you for helping me Aunt Maria.”

Aunt Maria flashed him a warm smile before opening one of the tall carved wooden French doors, letting Zephyr and herself inside. Inside was one of the strangest and most beautiful places he had ever seen. The place seemed to be mostly green, gold and pale indigo. Long halls, tall ceilings and large rooms, all of them beautifully decorated. 

She led him into a dining room, that was much smaller than what Zephyr had expected to be in a place as extravagant as this.  
Inside the dining room, was The Dark girl, The little fox, and the little boy. The little fox was laying out plates and utensils, The Dark girl was carrying food from a door on the right that let the kitchen to the table, and the little boy was struggling to get into one of the tall chairs at the table.

The Dark girl, stopped bringing food to the table for a few moments, and help the little boy into his chair, “There you go Lele bo.” 

Suddenly The red girl walked through the door carrying a large bowl of soup, and set it down on the table, “Soups on everybody!” she said cheerfully.

“Ahem,” Aunt Maria cleared her throat, “Children, this is Zephyr he’ll be staying with us for a while. Please help him feel welcome.”

The red girl immediately walked up to Zephyr and shook his hand, roughly, “It’s a pleasure Zephyr, my name is Angelina Emerald, but you can just call me Angie.” Her large sugar plum purple eyes, were so cheerful. Angie pulled him to a seat on the left side of the table, and sat him down. Her energy nearly rivaled his own.

“Hello, My name Sparky, Sparky Prowler.” Said the little fox as he sat in the chair next to Zephyr and shook his hand. He sounded gentle and a little shy.

Zephyr then saw that the little boy was looking at him timidly, “Hello, what’s your name?” Zephyr asked in a sweet brotherly tone.

The little boy glanced at Aunt Maria who had just sat down at the head of the table, she nodded at him. The little boy began to smile with excitement and pride.

“Damian my name is Damian,” he belted out in the cutest voice Zephyr had ever heard. “And that’s my sister Mari,” Damian said while pointing at the dark girl.

The dark girl, Mari, sat on Damian’s right. Unlike her brother that seemed to have a large caring heart, she seemed to be a person without one entirely.

“It’s nice to meet you Mari,” said Zephyr trying to get on her good side.

Mari ignored him, until Aunt Maria glared at her. She then replied with “Same.”

Angie walked over and set a plate of roasted veggies, garlic bread and a bowl of soup, in front of him. “Did I do something wrong?”

“Oh, no, you didn’t do anything wrong. Mari just doesn’t like strangers, but don’t worry. She’ll warm up to you...eventually.” Angie reassured him. She finished handing out the plates, and sat down next to Mari. 

“So, where are you from, Zephyr?” Angie asked.

“Uh, a forest to the west, I think. I don’t know where we are right now.” Zephyr said.  
“Oh, I guess we should tell you where we are. We’re right on the border of Equinox Forest and the Lunar Sea.” Angie explained. “Southern border of course.”

“Oh,” Zephyr said not fully understanding what Angie had said.

“So, what gift did you get Zephyr?” Damian, asked.

“Uh, what?” Said Zephyr, even more confused.

“Your gift,” Damian’s multicolored eyes grew wide. “Do you not have a gift?” he asked quietly.

“uhm.”

“Here let me explain,” Sparky spoke up to the great relief of Zephyr, “Dami means what are your powers? Do you have your mom strength? Or your father’s speed?”

“Oh, I’m fast! 1000% speed. Wait, how did you know who my parents were?”

“It was pretty obvious, the blue fur, the crooked smile, and we saw your speed. No doubt you are related to him,” Mari said, not looking up from her food.

“Besides that, there are bunch picture of him around the Mansion, you look a lot like him,” Angie said.

“So, you can run fast?” Damian innocently asked.

“Yeah,” Zephyr smiled.

“How fast?” Damian asked with his bright blue eye shinning even brighter.

Zephyr didn’t know how to answer he didn’t know his top speed, “Faster than an old banged up truck.” He finally answered. “What’s your gift Damian?”

The sparkle in Damian’s bright blue eye dimmed a little. “I don’t have a gift yet,” he said quietly. 

“There still time Dami,” Aunt Maria said warmly and with a loving smile.

The rest of dinner continued like this, questions asked and answered. After dinner, Aunt Maria led Zephyr through the tall beautifully decorated halls of the mansion, until they came to another set of large beautifully carved pair of French doors. The doors led to a room that had a tall spiral staircase, that led to a number of floors.

“This is the dormitory, each team had a different floor,” Aunt Maria said as she began to limp up the stairs.

“Team?”

“The league wasn’t completely a single force, Zephyr. We were broken up into different groups we called teams, usually consisting of three members.”

“Which one were you on?”

“Team Sahara, we lived on the 6th floor.”

“Which ones were my parents apart of?”

“Team Sonic and Team Rose, they lived on the 3rd and 4th floors.”

“Which floor will I be staying on?”

“When your parents got married your mother moved down to the 3rd floor, that’s where you’ll be staying.”

They got to the 3rd floor and Aunt Maria led Zephyr to a small blue door. She stepped to the side of it and gestured for Zephyr to open it. Zephyr slowly grabbed the bronze door knob and pushed the door open. 

Inside was a round bedroom. Its walls were painted with the image of a green valley on a sunny day (think green hill). To the left was blue race car bed, and too the right was a blue and white desk and another door that led to a bathroom. Hanging from the center of the ceiling was model of the solar system. Zephyr, walked around the room for a moment, his eyes wide with wonder. 

“This is mine?” he asked.

“Yes, it was always yours. When your mother was pregnant, we fixed up this room to be your nursery, but you never really got the chance to use it. My sister-in-law used to change it up every few years, in case you ever came back. I guess it’s a good thing that she lived in the moment and looked to the future.” Explained Aunt Maria.

“Yeah, I guess it was,” he said, starstruck. 

“If you need anything go head and knock on Sparky’s door. He lives just across the floor behind the pale-yellow door.” 

“Sparky lives on this floor?”

“Yes, your fathers were on the same team. I suggest you get your rest; days here start early.” She said as she left the room, closing the door behind her.

Zephyr walked around the room. Was it really made of him? He picked up one of the pictures that stood on the blue and white desk. It was his parents, smiling. He picked up another one, it was his mom she was pregnant and standing next to a shiny blue crib; her smile seemed fake in this one and why wasn’t his father there? He, put the picture back and flopped onto the race car bed. How? How could he be related to some of the greatest heroes of all time? Heroes that were gone. How, could this be real? It couldn’t be real, but it felt so real. His body sank in to the soft bed and he slowly drifted off to sleep.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

Aunt Maria slowly and quietly opened the door, to check on Sparky. The little fox was sleeping soundly in his hammock. She smiled knowing that for once nearly everyone in the mansion was sleeping peacefully.  
She then limped over to the small blue door and slowly opened the door. She saw that Zephyr was lying on top of the bedsheets with the lights on. She shook her head and chuckled quietly. She took off his shoes, that clearly needed to be replaced with a sturdier pair, and tucked him underneath the soft blankets, before turning off the lights.

She glanced one more time at the young hedgehog as she was leaving, and began to remember the night when she first saw him. She remembered the blood curdling scream his mother gave, her sister-in-law calling for help, and the blood; there was so much blood. That was all behind her now though. 

She smiled, “After all these years, he was finally home.”


	3. Training and Teammates

Zephyr tossed and turned, under the sheets. His eyes snapped open, and he shot up. He was drenched in sweat, and gasping for breath. He put his hands on his face and slowed his breath. He took his hands off his face and glanced around; it took a few moments to recognize where he was. The room was nearly pitch black, but he could still make out the paintings on the walls. 

“Just a dream, just a dream,” he told himself, as he got out of bed.

He snuck out of his room onto the 3rd floor. The dark green walls and the almost black wooden floors were alit with the faint flicker of candle light. Zephyr carefully walked around the floor, looking curiously at the unusual looking candles that were ablaze with strange purply/pink flames, until his eyes caught something even more interesting. A portrait; of his father…

He quickly and quietly went toward the portrait. His eyes stared at the brightly colored painting, with wonder. Inside of the swirly golden frame, was a blue hedgehog, that was clearly his father, a bright tangerine two-tailed fox, and a red echidna with sugar plum eyes; all of them with bright smiles. On the bottom of the frame were the words.

“’Team Sonic’”

“Hi dad,” he gazed at his father with pride, before looking a little closer at the others in the portrait “I guess those are Sparky’s and Angie’s Fathers.”

Did the other floors have these? Filled with newfound curiosity Zephyr went up the stairs to the 4th floor. The 4th floor looked different then the third, the walls weren’t a dark green, but a, deep indigo/blue and the doors were different colors; the only things that it shared with the third floor was the almost black wooden floor, and the fact that it was lit with many strange purply-pink candles. The 4th floor portrait was of his mother. She had a bright smile on her and looked much younger than she did in the photos in his room. Standing next to her was the biggest blue cat that Zephyr had ever seen and an adorable little brown rabbit. 

“‘Team Rose’”

Zephyr smiled at the portrait, at his mother. She looked so happy. “So, this was your team mom?” he thought.

Zephyr continued up the floors looking at the portrait of each team that once lived on them. the 5th floor was a dull, honey gold, once again the doors were different colors, and the floors was the same as the last two. There Zephyr found, a portrait of what looked like a team of a lime green crocodile, a grape juice colored chameleon, and a young bee or he could have been a wasp; Zephyr couldn’t tell. 

“‘Team Chaotix’”

Zephyr went up on to the 6th floor. It was the same as the 3rd; the same dark green walls, same almost black wooden floor, same purply-pink candles. Only the doors were different.   
“This is the floor that Aunt Maria said she lived on,” He remembered. 

Zephyr came up the 6th floor portrait, and he saw Aunt Maria, but she looked completely different. Her quills were shorter. She was standing up strait, without any sort of cane, and the tired looked she usually had on her face was replaced with a bright energetic smile. She, like everyone else in the portraits looked so happy, standing next to her team mates, who looked like a jackal and a red wolf.

“‘Team Sahara’”

He came to the 7th floor; where the staircase seemed to have ended. However, unlike the other floors, it was so dark that he could barely see four feet in front of him and the deep indigo/blue walls weren’t helping. Where were the candles? Zephyr looked around, straining his eyes against the darkness until he finally saw the only source of light, on the entire floor. It was a single purply-pink candle, sitting on the ground, right below the 7th floor’s portrait. 

The portrait had a silver frame and inside was a pitch-black Hedgehog with red strips, a white bat, that to Zephyr looked similar to Angie, and a what looked like a giant robot. 

“‘Team Dark’”

“Well, now I know who Mari is related to, and the bat might be Angie’s mom, but who is the Robot?” Zephyr thought. 

“What are you doing?” came a monotone voice from behind.

Zephyr tensed, and quickly turned around. There standing in the shadows was Mari, thanks to her dark fur she was nearly invisible, but she had a clear give away. The triangle marking on her arm and strangely her left eye lid, were now faintly glowing a tranquil blue. She was wearing a white cropped tank top and pajama shorts, that revealed other markings that were faintly glowing as well.

“Oh, I Mari I’m sorry if I… uh, why are you glowing?”

“What are you doing up here?” she asked, completely ignoring his question.

“Uh…I couldn’t sleep.”

“You shouldn’t be here.”

“Why shouldn’t I be? I’m a leaguer kid just like you.”

“No, you shouldn’t be here, on the 7th floor, in the middle of the night. People are trying to sleep.”

“Oh…hehe… sorry… So…uh…what are you doing up?”

“Sending you back to bed, before you wake the entire place,” she began to walk down the stairs, gesturing with her eyes for Zephyr to follow her. Being kind of creeped out by her sudden appearance and by the darker atmosphere of the 7th floor, Zephyr didn’t   
question it and followed her down the stairs.

“So, you lived in a restaurant?” she asked.

“How did you know that?” Zephyr was kind of surprised by the question, she didn’t give any indication of talking to him at dinner, yet this sounded like small talk.

“I heard you at dinner,” she said.

“You were eavesdropping?”

“I may be quiet but that doesn’t mean I’m deaf.”

“Don’t you think that’s a little rude?” 

“There’s nothing that goes on in this mansion without me knowing. Even if I wasn’t listening, I would have found out one way or another.” They stepped on to the third floor.

“Ok, now I know that if I want to do something. I’ll it run by you first.”

“Answer my question. Did you live in a restaurant?”

“Yep, and proud of it.” They entered into Zephyr’s room, “You’d be amazed about how many things you learn…”

“Did you live alone?” Mari interrupted him.

Zephyr’s ears flopped down in annoyance, “No, I had foster parents.”

“Did they treat you well?”

“Yeah, to them I was their son.”

“Were you happy there?”

“Yeah, of course.”

Her stoic expression seemed to vanish and was replaced with a face that said ‘are you stupid’, but it quickly returned to stoic again. 

“You’re such a fool.” She muttered, before storming toward the door.

“Excuse me?”

Mari stopped at the door, and glared at him, her grip on the handle tight with anger, “listen I’m going to be blunt.” Her words were drenched in venom. “You don’t belong here; you won’t be able to handle this life. If you can’t sever your connections to the outside completely, those who you care about can die. So, if you have any lick of sense, you will be gone by morning,” she slammed the door.  
Zephyr just stood there, in complete shock. “Man, she is a hardcase,” he thought. 

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

The room was dark, and quiet. CREEK! Went the wooden door, letting light and a long shadow. Zephyr was peacefully sleeping, every now and again letting out a small snore. He didn’t notice the dark silhouette standing over him. The silhouette pulled something slowly out from behind them and… HONK!!!!!!!

Zephyr’s eyes snapped open, he nearly jumped out of the bed. “AHHHH!!!!”

“Come on sleepy head time to get up!” said a cheerful voice, and then lights flicked on. He rolled over to see Angie. She was dressed in a short strapless simple brown dress with teal stripes going along the edges, plum purple leggings that matched her eyes, and a small teal and brown leather vest; she looked adorable. She giggled as she waved an airhorn at him.

Zephyr yawned, “What time is it?” he rubbed his eyes and sat up.

“Around six.”

“SIX! Six in the morning? How early do you guys get up?”

“Like I said six. We get up at six, well except for Mari, she usually gets up at 5:15.”

“Wow.”

“Anyway, you need to get up. Breakfast is almost ready,” Angie said as she started to walk out of the room. Suddenly she stopped and turned around. “Oh, and that’s for you.” She pointed at a small paper bag on the blue and white desk.

“For me? From who?” Zephyr got up out of the bed and walked toward the bag.

“Aunt Maria, she said it was a welcoming present. See you at breakfast.” She skipped out the door cheerfully.

Zephyr opened the bag and pulled out, a small watch and a pair of bright red shoes, with golden buckles. He awed at the shoes. They were much nicer than the ones he had using. He flipped one of them over and found small flaps on the bottoms of the shoes. He was puzzled by this detail but shrugged it off when he noticed a small card leaning against the bag.

“‘Dear Zephyr,  
Just a little something that I think you should have. The watch is a commutator and the shoes are models that are similar to the ones that your father used. They will last much longer than your old ones. Use them well.  
From: Aunt Maria’”

“My Father?” He thought  
.   
Zephyr put on the shoes, a perfect fit, and snapped the commutator onto his wrist. He then ran down the stairs toward the dining room. However, when he stopped (more like fell down) he was in a part of mansion that he didn’t recognize.   
Zephyr looked around. He was in a tall hall way that led to a single room. He continued down the hall (walking) to find what looked like a den. Part of the floor was lowered into a round couch, and a fire place laid dormant in front of it. Tons of bookshelves lined the dark green walls, and to his surprise there was a T.V; he thought that a place like this wouldn’t have any electricity.

He looked to his right and saw, Damian. He was sitting on a small sofa, on the left side of the room, staring out a large window, watching the sun rise. “What is he doing here?” Zephyr thought.

He walked over to Damian, “Hey, buddy.”

Damian gave a little squeak, and quickly looked at Zephyr.

“It’s Damian? Right?”

Damian nodded, never taking his mix-matched eyes off of Zephyr.

“Well, what you doing Damian?”

“Waiting for Mommy,” Damian said, turning back towards the window.

“Oh, is she supposed to come back from somewhere?”

“Yep.”

“From where?”

“A battle field.”

Zephyr’s eyes widen, “Your mom is on a battle field?”

“Yep.”

“Why is your mom on a battle field?”

“She was needed on the front lines.”

“Why was she needed?”

“There was a league level threat.” 

“What does that mean?”

“I don’t know.” 

“Ok…so, she’s coming home?”

“Yep!”

“That’s exciting. When was last time you saw her?”

“I don’t really remember, but Auntie Maria says that Mommy left three years ago.”

“Three years ago? That sure is sometime away from you kid. I wonder if…” Zephyr thought, “Has she sent you any letters or something telling you she’s coming back?” he asked, aloud.

“No.”

“Then how do you know she’s coming back?”

“Because she promised.”

“What do mean?”

“When mommy left, she gave me a big hug and said, ‘I’ll be back before you know it, I promise,’ so she has to come back.”

“You think she coming back?”

“She promised she would come back, and you can break a promise.” Damian said innocently. 

Zephyr looked at Damian, something seemed off, “Damian how old are you?” he asked out of curiosity.

“5.”

5? He was five years old? Zephyr was shocked sure Damian was still young, but at five he should know if his mother is dead or not. If she left three years ago the chances of her being…gone, were pretty high. Damian seemed to be much younger than he was.   
He seemed small. All the five-year-old’s that Zephyr had seen came up to his waist, yet Damian was at least ½ a head shorter. Then again, those five-year-old were mostly wolves, and Zephyr was still unsure about Damian’s species, so he could have been   
wrong. 

“Zephyr what are you doing in here?” Said a calm voice from behind.

Zephyr and Damian turned around to see Aunt Maria standing at the entrance of the room. She was wearing a light blue dress, that brought out her eyes, with a maroon scarf draped over her shoulders.

“I do hope you realize that the dining room is about five hallways back.” She said with a smile.

“Oh, I over shot that much? I’m sorry, I didn’t realize I was going that fast.” Zephyr said slightly embarrassed.

“It’s alright. Today we’ll be working on that anyway. Come on, you two. Time for breakfast.”

Zephyr started toward Aunt Maria, but Damian stayed where he was, looking out the window like his life depended on it. Clearly wanting to stay.

Aunt Maria smiled and shook her head, “We have waffles Dami.”

Damian bounced off of the sofa and bolted down the hall. Aunt Maria chuckled and then sighed. She looked so happy and nostalgic, as if she was remembering something.

“So, what were you two talking about?” she asked, Zephyr.

“Oh, Damian was just telling me about his mom.” Zephyr said casually. 

The joyful look in Aunt Maria’s pale blue eyes quickly faded into one of sorrow.

“What about her?” she asked, quietly.

“Oh, just how she promised to come home,” Zephyr noticed the sudden sorrow on her face. “Aunt Maria?”

“Yes Zephyr?”

“Is Damian’s mom…?” he didn’t need to finish.

“Dead? I’m afraid so,” She sighed, “She was killed in battle three years ago.”

Zephyr’s looked at the ground, feeling kind of guilty that he asked, “Oh…Does Damian know?”

“I’ve tried to explain to him, but the message never really got through. He just kept holding on to that promise she made him. He might be too young to understand, or he just doesn’t want to believe she’s gone. Either way I dread the day that he finally wakes   
up.”

Zephyr’s ears drooped. He remembered how much it hurt him to find out what happened to his birth parents; he was still trying to get over it. Damian was only half his age. Zephyr couldn’t imagine how badly Damian’s mother’s death would hurt him. 

“Well, I suppose we shouldn’t waste any more time here. Come on now Zephyr, we better get to breakfast before Angie and Damian eat all the waffles.” She began to walk down the hall, but she suddenly stopped and turned around, “And Let’s walk, I don’t want   
a Zephyr shaped hole in one of the walls thank you very much.”

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Angie had just finished putting breakfast at the table, when Damian ran into the room, shouting “WAFFLES!”

She giggled and helped him into his chair, “You’ll have to wait for a few more minutes ok. We can’t start without the others.”

“Aww,” he complained jokingly, making Angie giggle again.

“Morning Angie, Dami,” said Sparky as he walking into the dining hall. “How are you two feeling?”

“We’re great! I actually got a good night sleep. Did you fall asleep in the lab again or did you actually make it to your bed last night?” Angie said jokingly, making Damian giggle.

“Very funny and for your information I did sleep in my hammock last night.” Sparky took his seat.

“For once.” Said Damian.

“DAMI!” Angie fussed, as she and Sparky were trying to keep themselves from bursting out laughing.

“What?” Damian asked innocently; Angie and Sparky excepted defeat and started to laugh. “What’s so funny?” he asked, even more confused. 

“Good morning children,” Aunt Maria, said warmly as she walked in with Zephyr following close behind.

“What are you laughing at?” Zephyr asked.

“Oh, just the comedic genius of Damian Lazuli Shade,” Angie answered. Damian smiled, knowing that he made his family laugh.

Zephyr sat at his place at the table and the breakfast chatter quickly began. No one even noticed the dark figure walking into the dining hall. 

“What’s going on in here?” Mari asked, she walked toward them; she looked tired.

“Morning Mari! Grab a seat; you look famished.” Zephyr said.

“No thanks, I’m not hungry,” Mari grabbed a glass of water, “And you should be more focus on yourself right now,” She took a quick sip.

“Wow, are you always this grumpy in the mornings.” Zephyr said.

“Only when people are acting like idiots.” She glanced at Zephyr’s plate, with its mountain of pancakes. “You’re not going to eat all of that are you?” 

“Uh, yeah. Why?” Zephyr asked confused.

“How nauseated do you want to get today?”

“Uh…What?”

“Marisol has a point. This week you’ll be going through some trials in order for us to determine where to start your training and some of the trials can be…uhm…stomach churning.” She turned to Mari, “However, I won’t be putting him on the Spinner today,   
Mari.” Aunt Maria explained.

“Eat no more than half, then come outside. I think you can find the door by yourself.” Mari said as she and Aunt Maria walked out of the dining hall.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Zephyr walked out of the mansion’s tall wooden doors; they were surprisingly light and seemed to move on their own. He saw Mari out in the field, the ocean horizon behind her, practicing on a large balance beam, with Aunt Maria standing close by. She was preforming flips and twists on the beam, not stumbling even once. Her movements were smooth, précised and confident. Leap. Flip. Leap. Flip. Jump. Twist. Land.

“Wow, you’re amazing!” Zephyr said, as Mari finished on the beam.

“Your compliment is noted and forgotten, Zipper,” Mari said.

“It’s Zephyr and I was trying to be nice.”

“That’s going to get you killed.”

“Alright you two, that’s enough,” Aunt Maria chimed in, “Come, you will be doing the track today.” She turned and walked began to walk away, “Somethings never change.” She thought.

Mari began to follow her without question. Zephyr just shrugged and followed them. Going passed the mansion, over a large lake, into the nearby forest, onto an old dirt path and through layers of thick brush. 

Zephyr stepped out of the brush, flicking off the leaves that clung to his fur. He looked up and cocked his head to the side in confusion. A little way in front of him was a large ditch. He walked to the edge and looked down. It was at least 10 feet deep, and 18 feet wide. At the bottom was a black and white checkered line. It took him a moment to understand what he was looking at.

“A racetrack?” He asked.

“Very good,” Aunt Maria answered, “This track was designed to push speedsters to their limits, in speed, balance and reflexes.”

“How? It just looks like a dirt track.” Zephyr leaned over the side of the track and looked from side to side. The track went about 30 yards before turning blind corners on both ends.

“Looks can be deceiving Zephyr, and believe me this is no ordinary dirt track,” Aunt Maria said as she walked over to a small white station and pressed some buttons. The white station lit up, the screens came to life and two small drones launched from the   
sides of them. The drones flew down in the track and hovered right in front of the checker like.

“Are we late?” Sparky said as he emerged from the brush, followed by Damian, who was carrying a large bucket of popcorn.

“Not at all,” said Aunt Maria.

“What are you guys doing here?” Zephyr asked.

“We came to watch,” Sparky said.

“Yeah, the last race that happened was before I was born!” Damian said with great enthusiasm.

“Wait…Race?” Zephyr looked surprised.

“Yeah, when racing someone people usually try harder, and have a better performance because they’re competing,” Sparky explained. 

“And, you’re going to run on a racetrack,” Damian said.

“Then who’s my opponent?”

“Uh… Mari, she’s the only person who can match your speed.” Sparky pointed at Mari; she was doing stretches on the ground. 

“This is going to be easy then. She’s not even running.” Zephyr smirked.

Damian giggled, “No it won’t. It took my sister 36 tries before she could do the track from start to finish.”

“36?” Zephyr’s eyes widen.

“Over the course of 2 months, she had to let her injuries heal in-between goes,” Sparky explained.

“Injuries?” Zephyr thought, “Uhm… Sparky do you know if anyone has died on this thing?” Zephyr asked aloud.

“I don’t think so.”

“Great…” Zephyr said sarcastically. 

“Damian, Sparky stop scarring him. Zephyr you have nothing to worry about, no one has died this track,” Aunt Maria reassured, “But you’d better get on it. The sooner we do this the sooner we can begin your training.”

“Wait…I thought this was part of my training.”

“This race is more an evaluation, so I know what we need to work on to improve your speed. Now, please step on to the track.” Aunt Maria said.

Zephyr was about to jump down onto the track to face his opponent, when “Wait! What about Angie?! she isn’t here yet!” Damian shouted, not wanting her to miss the race.

“Don’t worry Dami. She’s not going to miss anything. She is actually where she needs to be to do her job for the race. Understand?” Sparky explained. 

Damian nodded, but he was still a little worried that Angie might not get to see the race. 

Zephyr jumped down onto the track and took his spot right behind the finish/starting line. 

“May the best racer win,” Zephyr held out his hand to Mari, hoping she would shake it.

“Your goal should be to finish the lap, not beating me,” Said Mari.

Zephyr put his hand down.

A hologram that read 3 appeared in front of them. 

“You worry about your goals I’ll worry about mine. Besides it must be much harder for you because you’re only pretending to be fast. The real deal, won’t have the same problems as a faker.” Zephyr said smugly. 

2

“You might be right, but I’m still going to kick your butt.”

1

“Sure, you are.”

“Try not to die.”

GO!

They both quickly turned into two dashes of light, one blue one purple; they were off. They zoomed around the corner, dirt and light trailing behind them. Zephyr glanced over at Mari; it was fun having someone to race against. 

Suddenly the track changed, the simple smooth dirt vanished, and there were pillars and potholes everywhere. Zephyr moved in between them with great difficulty. Everything was going past him so quickly, he nearly fell in to a hole or crashed into a pillar,   
multiple times. He glanced over at Mari; she was easily swerving in between the obstacles, slipping between them like running water.  
“How is she doing that?” Zephyr thought.

They both made it out of the Pillars and potholes, but then they were rushed into a section of the track that was full of jumps, rails, chasms that seemed to be bottomless, and giant hammers that were swinging overhead. Zephyr had to jump, and swerve in order to not hit anything, but when he went over the jumps, he had great difficulty not spinning out of control when he landed. Mari just went up the jumps, slid on the rails, and leaped over the chasms, with ease.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Damian Sparky and Aunt Maria were watching the race from the screens on the white station, with great excitement.

“The new camera drones are certainly much higher quality then the last ones. Well done Sparky.” Aunt Maria said.

“Thanks Aunt Maria,” Sparky said. 

The racers had just exited the Jumps area.

“Is it time?” Sparky asked.

Aunt Maria, smiled and nodded her head.

“Hello, Angie, come in,” Sparky spoke into a small commutator on his wrist.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Angie was standing in the middle of the brush next to the edge of the track, “I’m here, is it time?”

“Go for it,” Sparky’s said through the commutator on Angie’s wrist.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Zephyr and Mari dashed out of the Jumps Area, into what looked like a perfectly normal dirt track. “Finally, a strait way,” Zephyr thought.

Suddenly there was sharp screech, like metal scraping against metal and multiple gigantic pipes, started to roll on to the track from all directions.

“Whoa!” Zephyr shouted, as he dodged left, but he didn’t have long to be relived. When he dodged one pipe another was coming from the opposite direction. Unlike the other obstacles that were still or followed a pattern, the pipes were completely unpredictable. His eyes darted in everywhere constantly looking for a pipe that wanted to crush him. There was nothing he could do but keep running. If he slowed down the pipes would hit him. If he sped up the pipes would hit him.

Suddenly Zephyr felt his ankle roll and his body fly forward. The rough ground scraped his sides and his mouth fill the taste of soil. His body came to halt in a cloud of dust. A loud rumble came from both sides of him. He opened his eyes, and confirmed what he feared. On his left and right two pipes were charging toward him. He froze and shut his eyes, waiting for the onslaught of pain, that would come with two pieces of metal slamming into his body, but it never came. Instead he felt something jerk his shoulder, and then the rushing wind of going at supersonic speed, blowing against his face. Zephyr opened his eyes, Mari had grabbed his shoulder and whisked him away from the pipes before they could crush him; she saved him.

“Try not to scream,” she said calmly.

Zephyr nodded and grabbed Mari’s arm. She turned quickly to the right and when up the curved wall of the track, narrowly dodging the rolling pipes. Then she turned left hard, using the extra speed from the hill, she jumped over any piped that got in her way and propelled herself and Zephyr over the right side of the track wall.

Zephyr, was panting as he kneeled on the stable ground. He was nearly killed. He would’ve been seriously hurt if not killed, if it wasn’t for Mari. He looked up at the mysterious dark girl standing a few feet away, typing something into her silver commutator. Why on mobius did she save him? 

“He went down on Piper’s Ally,” she talked into her commutator, “We’re heading back.” 

“You just saved my life,” Zephyr said to her still a little starstruck.

“Yes, I did. Great assessment.” She turned her commutator off. “Come on we need to get back,” she began to walk along the tracks edge, towards the others.

“You just saved my life,” he got up and started following her.

“Why are you repeating yourself? Would you have preferred if I had let you get crushed?”

“No, I like being uncrushed, it’s just I thought you didn’t like me.”

“I don’t like you, but I’m not going to let you die.”

“Really because with what you said last night, I thought…”

“Ok,” she rolled her eyes and turned toward Zephyr, “I know this is going to be difficult for you but try to listen. I wasn’t trying to scare you off or assert my dominance if that’s what you thought, I was trying to stop you from making a mistake.”

“Why? You don’t seem like the person to do that.”

“The thing is Zipper, is that when you get to know me, you’ll find that I’m not a heartless monster.” She turned around and started walking again. 

“You have a heart? And I am thinking you were Damian’s half-sister.”

“What is that supposed to mean hedgehog?”

“Well, you and Damian have extremely different in personality types, I was beginning to think you had different mothers.” 

“Me and Dami are full on kin and our parents were happily married before they died! Thank you very much!” She hissed.

“Ok, ok, sheesh, no reason to get so upset about it. I was just asking. You’re obviously like your dad then.”

“And what would you know about my parents?” she stopped and started to fidgeted with the golden ring that was tied around her neck.

“Only that your mom actually cared.”

“She didn’t care enough to…” Mari thought to herself. An obviously troubled look crossed her face. 

“Uhm…Can I ask you something?” Zephyr asked. Seeing how trouble Mari was made him want to change the subject. 

“Why would you waste your time?” Mari said aloud, pushing the thought of her mother out of her mind.

“I’m going to take that as a yes. What species are you exactly?”

“Why? Can’t you tell by looking at me?”

“Not really. I think you’re a hedgehog, but there’s something off about you. No offence.”

Mari sighed, “If you really want to know, I’m a cross-breed. Multiple different creatures rolled into one. Yes, I know what you’re thinking. My parents we’re psychos that married outside of their species.”

“No, not at all. I think that it’s actually kind of cool that you’re not just one thing. Do other people often think of it as gross?”

“They feed us bullets and drown us with tear gas on sight.”

“Oh… so one of your parents was a member of team dark?” he tried to change the subject again.

“What makes you think that?”

“Well, the portrait I saw on the 7th floor had a hedgehog on it that looked a lot like you, and that was the portrait of Team Dark.” Zephyr thought. “Just a guess.” He said aloud.

“Lucky guess, my father was and he had a name you know.”

“Yeah, and what was that?”

“Shadow the Hedgehog.”

Zephyr froze. He had heard of Shadow the Hedgehog before. He had been a hero but unlike Zephyr’s father, he didn’t have the same…tendencies. While his father was seen as a beacon of hope, Shadow was often viewed as someone to be feared. Clearly, Mari had taken after him.

“Shadow the Hedgehog was part of the League?” Saying the name made him shudder internally. 

“Wow, you really don’t know anything about the League, do you?”

“Only the legends.”

“The legends that you know have been scrubbed, sanitized and white-washed to only tell you what they want you to know and those fairytales are far from the truth. Keep that in mind Zipper.”

“It’s Zephyr.”

“Doesn’t matter to me.”

Mari and Zephyr turned the corner of some brush to where the others were waiting for them.

“That was Amazing!” Shouted Damian as he ran to his sister, “Mari you were so fast!”

“Thanks, Razzberry,” Mari said as she hugged her brother and took him into her arms.

“Hey, what about me? Didn’t I do good?” Zephyr asked in a joking and obviously fake sad voice.

“You crashed,” Said Damian, flatly.

“Hey going fast isn’t as easy as it looks, you know,” Zephyr gave smirk.

Aunt Maria chuckled, “I guess it might be. However, Zephyr… your performance… how long have you had your powers?”

“A couple weeks. Why?”

Everyone froze. This was not the answer anyone expected. Powers usually showed up before the age of three, anything after that would be considered to be a late bloomer. Zephyr was double that age, and his father had powers since he could walk, making him even more an anomaly.

“Is something wrong? You look surprised?” Zephyr asked.

“No child there’s nothing wrong with you,” Aunt Maria reassured him, while shaking off her shock.

“That’s not what your face said,” he thought. “Why did you ask how long I had my powers?” he asked aloud.

“Because you looked inexperienced.”

Zephyr looked down at ground he knew that he wasn’t good at running, but he was still a little embarrassed. 

“But don’t worry Zephyr, we can get you back on track,” Aunt Maria said with confidence.

She then turned back toward the mansion, and the others quickly began to follow her. Mari right behind with Damian in her arms, then Sparky and finally Angie. Zephyr was the last one to follow them.

“Is there something wrong with me?” Zephyr wondered.

Angie suddenly stopped, turned around and smiled at Zephyr, “If it helps, I think you did very well for you first time.”

“Thanks,” he gave her a crooked smile.

She smiled sweetly back at him, before quickly turning around to catch up with the others.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Aunt Maria led Angie, Mari, and Zephyr to a small shed on the other side of the crop field. Inside the shed, was a truck, a bell on a string that was tied to the ceiling, tons of hay bales, tires, and a strange futuristic looking tread mill. Everything inside seemed to be covered a layer of dust, like it hadn’t been used in years. 

“What is this place?” Zephyr said.

“This is all of the old speedster training equipment,” Angie said, “I was like 3, 4? last time I saw this stuff, right?”

“No, you were barely two, when we went through this junk for the funeral,” corrected Mari, “And it was first locked up in here when the track was built.”

“Marisol is right, we stopped using this stuff when the track was built, ” Aunt Maria said, as she blew dust off of a monitor, attached to the tread mill.

“And what is that?” Zephyr asked.

“To teach you, Zephyr. Your performance on the track clearly showed that you don’t know that much about abilities, so we’re going back to the basics,” Aunt Maria, pressed a button on the monitor, the tread mill came to life. She gestured at Zephyr to step on the treadmill.

“Are you sure? I don’t want to break anything of yours,” Zephyr said worried.

“Don’t worry about it. Most treadmills can go a max of 10-15 miles per hours, but you don’t need to worry about this one. Uncle Tails designed this one especially for your dad, so it can handle anything you got,” Angie said, with confidence.

Zephyr sighed and reluctantly stepped on to the tread mill. Pit… pat… pit.. pat.. pit pat, his feet sounded as they hit the cold dusty metal. As he gained speed, his legs became hard to see, and a shield of blue lightning surrounded him. It was strange to be running on a treadmill rather than outside, as there was no wind rushing into his face.

Suddenly and unexpectedly, Mari snickered. Zephyr turned his head but even he wasn’t fast enough to catch her smiling, all he saw was her face in her left hand, shaking her head. 

“What are you laughing at?” Zephyr said, confused.

“Oh, chaos,” Mari looked at the ceiling. She walked over zephyr, and stepped up on to a still part of the treadmill. She then pushed Zephyr’s head downward, and threw his hands behind him. Almost immediately, the speedometer on the monitor dramatically rose, and Zephyr’s legs became nearly invisible.

“Your technique was inefficient,” Mari said as she stepped off of the treadmill.

Aunt Maria smiled at Mari, but then something on the monitor caught her eye. She began to stare curiously at it, “Strange,” she murmured.

“What is it?” Angie asked. She came over to the monitor, confused.

“Well, that’s different,” Mari as she joined him.

“What is it? Why do you look so surprised, at that thingy?” Zephyr asked concerned.

“Uh…This monitor works the treadmill and tracks your data, your speed, heartrate, body temperature, glucose levels, and don’t worry, all of those are normal,” Angie said. 

“For him,” Mari said.

“Yeah…Anyway it’s the tracker that measures electrical discharge, that’s…unusual,” Angie explained. 

“Angelina, is right I have never seen a speedster with such a high charge,” Aunt Maria said.

“Is that bad?” Zephyr asked.

“Don’t touch anything mechanical while you’re running and you’ll be fine,” Mari said.

“Uhm… I wonder... Zephyr could you rev up into a spin ball? I want to see if it will change the discharge levels,” Angie asked her eyes completely glued to the monitor’s screen.

“Uh…Do what?” Zephyr looked at her confused.

“You can’t spin-dash?” Angie asked, surprised.

“Angie of course he can’t spin-dash, he’s only had his powers for a couple weeks,” Mari rolled her eyes.

“What’s a spin-dash?” Zephyr asked even more confused.

“It’s a special battle technique, usually used by speedsters,” said Aunt Maria, “You basically duck your head down, and pull your legs in to turn yourself into a spinning projectile. Your father used and perfected the technique in order to use his body to destroy enemy robots in battle. That’s why he never needed any weaponry.”

“Cool…Am I going to learn that?” Zephyr asked his eyes sparkling.

Aunt Maria, chuckled, “I wouldn’t have it any other way.” She said as she walked toward the door.

Zephyr leaped off of the treadmill and dashed for the track, but a hand grabbed his shoulder and gripped it strongly. He came to an abrupt stop and turned to find Aunt Maria holding his shoulder.

“Hold your horses’ kiddo. I didn’t say we were going to start with the spin-dash right away.”

“But you were going towards the door? I thought that…”

“That I was head towards the track to teach you? No, I just thought I should be close to the door in order to stop you from running to the track. There are some things we need to work on first before we get to the spin-dash.”

Zephyr was a little disappointed but he flashed a bright smile and asked enthusiastically, “Ok, how do we start?”

Aunt Maria smiled, “Marisol get the truck running and Angie please fill the back with hay bales please.”

Zephyr watched in amazement as the seemingly gentle and cheerful Angie lifted up three hay bales with ease and place them in the bed of the truck. She continued to put bales in the back, never looking tired. “Whoa, she is strong!” Zephyr thought.

“Got it,” Mari shouted as the old truck sputtered to life. Angie quickly stopped putting hay bales in the back opened the large shed doors, hopped into the bed and helped Aunt Maria into it as well. Then Mari drove the truck out of the shed and into a large field next to the sugary white beach. Leaving Zephyr in the shed very confused. 

Zephyr chased after them, “What are you doing?” he shouted over the wind.

“This is your first lesson!” Aunt Maria shouted over the wind, “The only rule to this exercise is don’t get hit!”

“What!?” Zephyr asked even more confused. Suddenly the sun was blocked out, and a hay bale crash next to him. “AHHHH! Are you Crazy!”

“Angie! Don’t be afraid to hit him! He needs to improve his reflexes,” Aunt Maria Shouted.

“Aunt Maria are you sure?! I don’t want to hurt him!” Angie said as she readied another bale to throw.

“Yeah, don’t worried sweetheart we’re only throwing hay at him!”

“Ok!”

“What?!” Zephyr shouted as another bale came crashing down, “Gah!”

For the next few hours Zephyr ran behind the truck with Angie throwing hay at him. He was hit twice, but he managed to avoid the rest of the bales. At the end of it he was tired and very hungry. He fell flat on the ground, the earthy smell of the ground filling his nose, as he breathed deeply.

“Are you all ok?” Angie said as she stood over him.

“Tired and hungry,” he answered.

“Well, I wouldn’t get to comfortable. Aunt Maria wants you in the training field after lunch.”

“What? Why?” He picked himself off the ground.

“She has somethings she wants to work with you on.”

“Well if she wants to see me.” He started to walk off.

“Uhm, do you want the directions to the training field?”

Zephyr stopped suddenly his cheeks flush red with embarrassment, “Whoops.”

Angie started to giggle and snort, “Come on, I’m heading there anyway.”

“What a cute laugh,” he thought. Zephyr shook off his embarrassment and followed the still laughing and snorting Angie. Suddenly his stomach began to rumble. “Uh… Can we at least get some lunch first? I’m kind of hungry.”

“Don’t worry lunch break will be soon.”

____________________________________________________________________________________________

Sparky was underneath an old blue plane working on its engine, in a shady area on to the right of the mansion and to the left of the training field. Damian was lying in the grass reading a book next to Sparky’s tool tray.

CLANG! “Ouch!” Sparky said as he rolled out from under the plane.

“You ok Sparky?” Damian asked.

“Yeah, I’m ok. Just another part fell off,” Sparky rubbed his birthmarked eye, “Can you hand me the wrench?”

“Size 4 or 6?”

“4.”

Damian reached up onto the tall tool tray and grabbed a small wrench, “Here you go,” He handed the wrench to Sparky.

“Thanks,” Sparky went back under the plane.

Damian went back to his book, and quickly became tangled in it, when he quickly looked up. His multicolored eyes lit up, “Angie!” he shouted and jumped up to meet his friend. 

PANG! “OW!” Sparky jumped at Damian’s shout and hit his head on the under belly of the plane. 

“Hey Kiddo,” Angie said as she gave the little boy a big hug.

“Hey Angie!” Damian looked behind her, “Hey Zephyr.”

“Hey Damian,” Zephyr waved. “Hey Sparky.”

“Hey, Angie, Zephyr,” Sparky said as he rolled out from under the plane rubbing his head, “ah…”

“Wow, is that a Plane?” Zephyr jogged over to Sparky.

“Yep, doesn’t fly all that well though,” Sparky Said.

“Why?”

“Uh…it…”

“It was in a pretty bad crash a couple years ago, hasn’t touched the sky since,” Angie finished for Sparky. 

“Yeah, that,” Sparky said solemnly.

“Sparky could you watch him, I got to go get something,” Angie said.

“Uh, ok?” Sparky said confused, as he watched Angie walk off, with Damian following her.

“What’s she up too?” Zephyr asked.

“You can never tell with, Angie. She’s can be weird, and confusing, but she’s always there if you need her.”

“So, you like planes?” Zephyr asked as he grazed his finger tips on the old painted metal.

“Yeah, all machines actually. Getting up in their gears and taking them apart, is something I could do all day. If its mechanical I can probably understand how it works.”

“Really?”

“yeah, machines are easy to understand. They do what you built them to do. They’re simple and they don’t judge you like people do.”

“What do you mean?”

Sparky looked at Zephyr confused, “Zephyr have you never been made fun of?”

“Of course, quite a few times actually. It was usually about these,” he pointed at the patch of frosted pink quills that hung over his face, “A lot of kids called me a girl, or Pinky, but I didn’t really care.”

“How? I would have lost it, if they were making fun of me.”

“I guess I just figured out that what they said didn’t mean anything. It doesn’t matter what other people think of you as long as you like yourself.”

“I wish it was that simple for me.”

“What? Mari told me that cross-breeds can have it kind of tough but why would people pick on you?”

“Wow, you really are from the outside. Zephyr, it doesn’t just happen to cross-breeds. If you have powers or a weirdo mutation…” he gestured at his two tails, “…they treat you the same. I have only been outside about four times, every single time, something…  
bad…has happened.” He gazed up at the white stone cliffs, “Beyond those cliffs your nothing but a freak.”

“Is it really that bad for you guys?” Zephyr asked kind of shocked.

Sparky gave a small nod.

“Well, I’m sure you can’t wait to fix this plane,” Zephyr said, trying to change the subject to something a little easier for Sparky to talk about, “I bet you can’t wait to fly it.”

Sparky’s eyes went wide, “Oh, no never in my life! I love to fix planes, not fly them. I can’t stand heights.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I know it weird.”

“Why? Wait who are you parents, again?”

“My father was Miles Prowler, or Tails the fox. Where did you think I got the second tail?” he waved his two tails.

“Couldn’t he use his tails to fly, and wasn’t he usually a pilot for the league?”

“Yep.”

“You do know how…”

“Ironic my fear is? Yep, but he wasn’t just a pilot, he was an inventor too. Most of the League’s gadgets and gizmos came from him.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, where did you think Mari got her skates?” Sparky’s eyes began to sparkle and a bright smile grew across his face, “He made them for her when she was little, however she couldn’t wear them until she was eight. They were some of his greatest   
inventions…” The bright smile on his face quickly faded and turned into a sudden frown, “…and among his last, then…He…came.”

“He? You mean Scour…”

“DON’T! don’t say that name.”

“Why not?”

“We’re not supposed to talk about him.”

Zephyr was about to ask why, but he quickly noticed the pure terror in Sparky’s face. His lips were pressed together, his eyes were wide, and although subtle his breath was shaking.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know that you were so scared of him. I guess it’s hard to talk about your parent’s murderer.” Zephyr said quietly.

“Yeah…” Sparky looked at the plane, with a look of sad longing. “But at least now we have a chance.”

“What do you mean?”

“You! You are our chance. The chance to end this murder’s rampage, to avenge our parents. Do you know how long we have looked for you? YEARS. You’re our chance. With the son of one history’s greatest heroes we can’t lose!” Sparky stared at Zephyr with his   
eyes now shining with hope.

Zephyr, looked at the ground with shock and worry, “have they truly been wait for me?” he thought.

Sparky saw Zephyr’s face, and decided to change the subject, “Zephyr, can I ask you something?”

“Uh, yeah. What’s going on?”

“What was your life with your foster parents like?”

“It was ok. They were nice, sometimes a bit overprotective but overall nice.”

“How was it nice?” Sparky sat on the ground and looked up at Zephyr, eyes wide with wonder.

“Well, in the after-hours when the restaurant was closed. Me and Pa would have races to find out who could finish sweeping their half of the dining area first. We’d always get to arguments about who finished first, and Ma would always tell us it was tie. After we   
were done Pa would take me up to my bed and tell me one of his crazy legends then Ma would come and sing me to sleep.” Zephyr smiled, the warm memories of the happy times with his foster parents, flooding his mind. Would he ever get to see them again?

“Wow, did that happen every night?” Sparky asked, his eyes were sparkling with curiosity 

“Not unless we ran late. On those nights I was rushed up stairs to go to bed at a reasonable hour. While Ma and Pa were rushing around trying to keep the customers happy.”

“It’s sounds like you liked it there.”

“yeah, it was fun. I’m sure you and your parents had fun times like that thought right?”

Sparky’s eyes imminently dulled, and his ears drooped.

“Hey what’s wrong?” Zephyr asked a little concerned. 

“I barely knew them.”

“Who?”

“My parents. I was only a newborn when they died.” Sparky curled into a ball and his eyes began to water.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring it up.”

Sparky wiped his eyes, “It’s okay.”

“HEY!” Angie shouted as she and Damian walked toward them. She was carrying a large brown basket, and Damian had a large blanket in his arms. 

“Hi Angie,” Sparky said.

“Hi Sparky, hi Zephyr,” Damian said, as he laid out the blanket.

“Hey Dami,” Zephyr said.

“So, what were you to talking about?” Angie asked, as she sat down and opened the basket. “Or were you too just standing here in silence?” she joked.

“No, we were talking,” Sparky said.

“Yeah, we aren’t completely social awkward,” Zephyr said, “What’s in the basket?”

“Lunch,” Damian said excitedly. 

“Ok, now you have my undivided attention,” Zephyr said, as he sat down.

Everyone laughed. Angie took out several sandwiches, some weird looking blue and purple fruits, and water bottles and pasted them around.

___________________________________________________________________________________________ 

Mari was standing on the right side of the training, watching her brother, cousins and Zephyr. She looked at their smiling faces as the talked and ate their lunch. 

“They look like their having fun, don’t they?” Aunt Maria walked up next to her niece, “You could join them if you want. It’s not a bad thing to take break.”

“He’s making a mistake,” Mari said completely ignoring what Aunt Maria had said.

“Perhaps,” Aunt Maria answered, well of aware of what her niece was saying, “But only time can tell. He might surprise you.”

“I doubt it,” Mari walked off back toward the training field.

Aunt Maria watched as her niece walked away. When was the last time that she saw her smile and play like a child rather than train like an adult? Three? Four? No, five. Five years, since she had last seen Mari smile and play. Parents usually joke about how   
children grow up so fast, but some kids have too.

______________________________________________________________________________________________ 

“Then Sparky, said, ‘I told you that would happen’” Angie said. Causing Zephyr and Damian to laugh, while sparky just smiled slightly embarrassed.

“I didn’t know you could be sassy, Sparky,” Zephyr Said, gently punching Sparky’s shoulder.

“Only that one time. I don’t really like to be ‘sassy’; I think its impolite.” Sparky said. 

“Aww, you’re so sweet!” Angie squealed. Causing the little fox to go a bright shade of red.

“Angie quit it. You’re embarrassing him,” Zephyr said.

“Ok, ok, I’m sorry Sparky. I can’t help it, sometimes you can be as cute as a muffin,” Angie said.

The little fox started to turn back into his normal color and gave a timid smile. “It’s ok Angie, I know you can get excited. Just please don’t do it again.” 

“You should listen to him Angie. He’s got a lot of dirt on you,” Damian piped up.

“DAMIAN!” Sparky squeaked, as Angie and Zephyr burst out laughing.

“What? all I’m saying is that you could bring her social statis crumbling down; if she had one.” 

Now it was Angie turn to fuss at Damian, but she couldn’t really stay mad at him, with his adorable eyes and the other boys laughing their heads off. 

“Oh, you’re impossible!” she shouted to the whole group out of frustration.

“Well, well, it looks like you four are having fun,” Aunt Maria said as she walked up to the group.

“Good afternoon, Aunt Maria,” Said, Angie, Damian and Sparky, in unison. 

“Uh… good afternoon,” Zephyr said a little late.

Aunt Maria warmly smiled, “I hope you all had enjoyed your lunch and I hate to be the bringer of bad news but now we must return to our tasks.”

Everyone began to pack up the leftovers from lunch. Right before everything was back in the basket and the blanket folded up, Aunt Maria stopped Angie, “Before you put that away you should grab a moonlace fruit, for Mari. I don’t think she’s eaten anything   
yet.”

Angie nodded, fully understanding her, and grabbed one of the strange blue and purple fruit. Zephyr watched as she put it in her skirts pocket. 

“Me and Dami can take this stuff back to the Mansion,” Sparky offered.

“Very well,” Aunt Maria said, Watching Sparky and Damian walking off, “Angie, Zephyr, come we must head to the training field.” She spoke calmly and clearly. 

They quickly made it to the field. Zephyr quickly noticed Mari in the far corner of the training field. She was standing on a ground that looked as if it was made of glass rather than the dirt floor that the rest of the training field had. She was still as stone; her quills were whipping around in the afternoon breeze.

Suddenly multiple glass ballistas grew from the floor, surrounding her. Their crystal-like forms, were large and glistened in the sunlight. There was low clicking sound, and one of the ballistas fired. Mari quickly slipped to the left making the large spear miss her by mere inches and strike the ground. The clicking sound began again. One by one the ballistas began to fire, Mari slipped in-between the next two shots, but before the fourth ballista could fire, she flipped onto one of the already fired spears and use it to bounced up high into the air. The other ballistas followed her and number four took its shot. Mari flipped herself in the air kicking the fifth shot away and fell back onto the ground. Number five then when off. Mari glance behind her. She heard the quick snap of the glass spear firing, before quickly turning around, while whipping her left hand in front of her. A flash of green was sent at the flying glass spear. Suddenly there was a bright green explosion, the sound of the glass shattering and the field was enveloped in green smoke. 

Zephyr ran towards Mari wondering if she was alright. 

“Zephyr, wait!” Angie called after him.

When he arrived, the green smoke had cleared; Mari was fine. She looked at him a little annoyed, but suddenly her eyes widened. Snap. She quickly grabbed Zephyr’s shoulder with one hand, pulled him behind her, whipped out her other hand and another bright green explosion followed. They were once again enveloped in the bright green smoke.

“cough Wow,” Zephyr just awed at Mari. Was that the power chaos? Zephyr had heard stories about the warriors who had its gift but had never seen it up close. Mari’s father was said to be one of the greatest masters of this ancient power, it was only natural for her to have some kind of connection to it.

“ARE YOU INSANE!?” Mari shouted, as she turned around to face Zephyr.; her face full of anger. The ballistias melted back into the floor behind her. 

“What?” Zephyr asked, now scared half to death.

“YOU CAN’T JUST RUN ONTO A SYM GLASS FIELD WHEN SOMEONE IS USING IT! DO YOU HAVE A DEATH WISH!?”

“Uh…uh…no.”

“WELL YOUR ACTING LIKE YOU DO!”

“Marisol, that enough,” Aunt Maria’s voice rang clear. She limped closer, her face stern.

“Oh, My Gosh! I’m so sorry! Aunt Maria! It’s my fault I didn’t stop him in time!” Angie shouted, as she flew over to the group.

“Angelina, it’s not your fault. This was an accident on everyone’s part,” Aunt Maria reassured. 

“Wait a minute, why am I in trouble? He’s the one who jumped into the middle of a war zone and messed me up!” Mari shouted and gestured Zephyr.

“Marisol, although true, his actions did not give you the right to scream at him like that,” Aunt Maria lectured. Mari looked down; shame veiled her face and her ears drooped.

Aunt Maria turned to Zephyr, “Zephyr, what were you doing?”

“I thought the something had happened to Mari when the smoke covered her. I’m sorry I didn’t mean to mess up whatever she was doing,” Zephyr explained.

Aunt Maria sighed, “Zephyr I know your new here, and that you probably have never since a Sym Glass Field before, but you need to think before you act.” Everyone remained silent. “Well, now that this is settled. Angelina Marisol, please continue your combat training. Zephyr please follow me.” She walked toward another part of the field.

Mari walked in the opposite direction, with Angie starting to follow her. Angie turned around and spoke softly, “Good luck.”

“Angie! You coming?!” Mari called back.

“Coming!” Angie hurried off.

Zephyr smiled at Angie and then hurried to catch up with Aunt Maria. “So, what are we doing?” he asked excitedly. “Are you going to teach me how to fight off baddies? Have me face giant hordes of killer robots? Break the sound barrier?”

Aunt Maria chuckled, “You will see.”

Zephyr’s ears flopped down, he was not satisfied with that cyprid answer, but Aunt Maria had to know what she was doing; she did used to work with his father after all. He decided to remain hopeful.

They arrived at a part of the field that was a large obstacle course. Monkey bars, parkour walls, pools and nets were everywhere. Zephyr stood there in awe. 

“Over here,” Aunt Maria called Zephyr. She was standing on a large blue mat.

Zephyr walked over. “So, what are we doing?”

Aunt Maria shifted her weight on to her good leg and she turned around and faced Zephyr, without her cane.

“Were going to learn self-defense,” she raised her hands.

Zephyr stared at her, a little worried. She had been so nice and he doesn’t want to hurt her.

“Trust me, my balance may not be the best but you don’t have to worry about hurting me.”

Zephyr obeyed, although still extremely worried, about accidently hurting her. He raised his hands in to an awkward fighting stance and threw his left hand towards her. He felt something grab his hand, yank him forward, and something kicking his legs out from under him. The next thing he knew he was on the ground, and had the taste of soft dirt in his mouth.

“Are you alright?” she asked calmly.

“Yeah,” He picked himself off the ground, “What just happened?”

“I pulled you forward throwing you off balance and then used my leg to finish the job.” She wobbled on her good leg, “Could hand me my cane please?”

Zephyr quickly grabbed the cane off the ground. He as picked it up he noticed something. Three metallic bands wrapped around neck of the cane just below the gemstone handle, Two golden, and one a pearly sliver. He thought he saw something written on one of the golden bands but he handing to Aunt Maria before he could be sure.

“Thank, you,” She said as she steadied herself.

“Your welcome. How did you know how to trip me? I didn’t know that you knew how to fight.” 

“Child, I served on the front lines of the Equinox War.”

“WHAT?!” Zephyr’s eyes widen in surprise.

Aunt Maria, let out a large chuckle, “How did you think the nerves to my left leg were severed? By falling down the stairs?”

Zephyr just stood there, his mouth ajar. She was so sweet, and kind. How could she have been a soldier on a battle field?

“Don’t act so surprised. I told you I was on Team Sahara.”

“Yeah, but it though you were just medics or when on scouting missions.”

She began to laugh, “Goodness gracious, no. We were mercenaries.”

Zephyr stood there silent for a moment, “You…killed…people?” Zephyr’s voice was quiet and filled with shock.

“Oh, I never did, I couldn’t stand the thought of taking someone’s life. However, I can’t say the same for the whole team. They were a little more comfortable with it, but they never killed in front of me. They knew how I felt about it.” She looked at the ground and began to fiddle with the ring on her left hand.

“Are you…?” Zephyr cautiously asked.

“The last member? No, there’s one left.” She said solemnly, “He’s currently on the front lines.”

“I’m sorry for asking. I didn’t mean to make you sad.”

“It’s alright Zephyr you every right to be curious.” She sighed, “Now shall we resume your training?”

“Yes, please.”

Aunt Maria gave a small, mischievous smirk, and the training began.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

Zephyr was hanging upside down; his arms were pinned to his sides with ropes.

“Your alone in the jungle and you’ve been caught in a trap. You hear the enemy forces closing in on your location. What do you do?” Aunt Maria asked, she walked around zephyr.

“Umm, tell them that…” he tried to answer.

“NO! you use your quills.”

“My quills?”

“Besides for your powers, they will become your most important tool.”

“uh, ok,” he rocked his head back and forth trying to flip his quills up and cut the ropes, “Almost.”

“TIMES UP!” She plucked a quill for her head and sliced the ropes cause Zephyr to fall to the ground, “Your either dead or at you enemy’s mercy. Marisol got it on the first try.”

Zephyr sighed, “Course she did.” 

___________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

Zephyr ran forward and gently turned his feet to the side, he tripped and fell down the too ground. 

“COME ON! FRICTIONS YOUR FRIEND!” She shouted.

Zephyr quickly got back to his feet and went to try it again.

“IF YOU DON’T SMELL BURNING RUBBER! YOUR NOT DOING IT RIGHT!” She shouted.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Zephyr ran towards every different direction. Arrows were flying all around him, and bouncing off the walls.

“COME ON! YOU DON’T WANT TO BE HIT!” Aunt Maria shouted from far off.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Two bags of sand were hanging, from a pole that was resting his shoulders. He was running laps but wasn’t allowed to use his speed. He was hot and sweating from the previous hours of training. He collapsed to the ground.

“What are you doing?” Aunt Maria walked up to him.

“I’m tired.” Zephyr said, breathing heavily.

“Do you think you’ll be able just stop in the middle of a battle?”

Zephyr didn’t answer. Angie suddenly ran past him, she had sandbags too, although hers were three times the sizes of Zephyr’s.

“Come on you need to get up. Are you really Angie beat you?”

“She’s been doing this a lot longer than I have.”

“Then you have a lot to catch up on, don’t you?”

Zephyr let out a loud groan and pulled himself up.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“LEFT! RIGHT! UPPERCUT! LEFT! RIGHT! CROSS!” Aunt Maria shouted.

Zephyr hit the pads that Aunt Maria had on her hands. He was tired but he worked hard. He was panting, and sweat dripped down his Quills, making them shimmer in the setting sun’s light.

“Ok, that’s enough for today.” Aunt Maria put the pads away. 

Zephyr collapsed on to the ground.

“You did good today Zephyr. You have your mother’s kick.”

“Really?” He asked out of breath.

“Yes, you do. I could never forget.” She gently touched her right cheek, “Which reminds me.” She pulled an old piece of paper out of her dress pocket. “I thought you might want to read this.” She handed the paper to him.

Zephyr took the paper, and imminently recognized the hand writing.

“‘To My Friends,  
I’m so sorry, but I can’t stay here. Everywhere I see him, and I don’t want Zephyr to grow up in a world where he is constantly being hunted, and haunted by his father’s memory. I am so grateful to all of you. Helping me through everything that has happened. I want to tell you where I’m going, but I can’t. I know that if I tell you, you’ll come after me, and I can’t let you get in the way of what needs to be done. I love all of you, and I’m sorry.  
Your Friend, Amy Rose Hedgehog’”

Zephyr smiled sadly as he read the letter. He eyes starting to well up, but he didn’t cry; he was too tired. She had saved him, at the cost of her own life. It was humbling but sad. Now all he wanted was to meet her and it hurt to know that it would never happen.

Aunt Maria looked at his face. It was the same one that Damian and Sparky would sometimes get. She knew what he was thinking.

“She loved you. When you were a baby, once she had you in her arms, she never wanted to let you go. It must have destroyed her to send you away.” Aunt Maria said.

“What was she like?” Zephyr asked his eyes filled with sorrow and curiosity.

Aunt Maria sighed, smiled and sat down next to him, “Your, mom was one of the strongest women I have ever known, and that’s saying something considering the people we dealt with on a daily basis. She was someone not to be messed with, and not just on the battle field. If you got her mad you were in trouble, but she was sweet. She could talk anyone out of doing something rash. And boy, she was stubborn.”

Zephyr started to snicker.

“She was. If she wanted a mountain to move, she would stand outside and watch it until it did.”

Zephyr laughed even harder.

“That’s how she got your father.”

“She wanted mountain to move for my father?”

“No. she chased after your father for years before he finally agreed to go on a date her.”

“It took her that long?”

“Oh, she loved your father, so much that she never even considered that another guy might better for her. Although, she did get my brother mixed up with him once.”

“Wait what?”

“Don’t worry it didn’t happen on their wedding day.”

Zephyr burst out laughing again.

“However, I don’t think it was completely her fault that it took so long for them to finally get together.” 

“What do you mean?”

“Your father was a great hero, strong, brave, a little bit cocky but great nonetheless. He never seemed give up on anything or anyone. Truly someone to marvel at. In some ways I owe him my life.”

“Geez, I have to lived up to that,” Zephyr thought, a little concerned.

Aunt Maria saw his face, seeing the worry. She gave a little bit of a mischievous smile, and leaned a closer to his ear, like she was about to tell him a secret. “However, between you and me, when it came to girls your father was a complete mess.”

“What?” Zephyr asked confused, nearly forgetting his previous thoughts. “The great Sonic the hedgehog, the hero who you owe your life to, was mess when it came to girls?”

“Yes, in fact one Christmas, this was before your parents were together, we were playing truth or Dare, now that I think about it, it was terrible idea at time, but we were young and stupid. Anyway, your father was dared to say a pick-up line and he was so clueless that he actually turned on his communicator and looked up pick-lines. We all laughed so hard that night.”

“So, that’s where I get it.” 

“Get what? Can you not talk to girls either?”

“It’s never been the easiest thing for me.”

She smiled lovingly, “Don’t worry about that. Not everyone destined to fall in love and you’re way too young anyways.”

Zephyr eyes went serious, “Did he like me?”

“I’m sorry?”

“My father, was he happy when I was born? Was he alright when My mom sent me away and when she was captured?”

Aunt Maria face fell, realization and sorrow filled her eyes. “Zephyr, your father didn’t know about you.”

“What?”

“When you father was killed, your mom wasn’t even aware that she was pregnant yet.”

Zephyr eyes widened; he should’ve figured it out. Aunt Maria had told him that his father had died 11 years ago and he was only 10. The only picture of his mom that he was remotely in, his father was nowhere to be seen. 

Aunt Maria pulled Zephyr into a warm hug. “You’re a lot like him, energic, confident, and brave. He would’ve liked you.” She gently kissed his forehead, in a motherly way, before struggling to her feet. “Dinner will be ready soon. Don’t stay out to late.” She limped back towards the house. Leaving Zephyr to his thoughts.

____________________________________________________________________________________

Zephyr walked up the dirt path to the sea cliffs, although he didn’t know where he was going. His eyes looked around with wonder. Unlike the woodlands, he had grown up in, this one seemed to be alive in a more mystical way. The plants seemed to be pulsing in array of light purples, tranquil blues and vibrant greens. Golden lights gently flouted around the in the night time air. Even the sea seemed to change, it seemed to shine much brighter than it did in the daylight and the sky; Zephyr had never seen so many stars. The only thing that didn’t seemed to change were small black stones that littered the path.

As he ended the dirt path, he came to a small ridge. It was blanketed in a soft grass, that was pulsing in waves of bright green, with a perfect view of the shimmering sea and on the left was a single tree. It was different than any of the others he had seen in this forest. Its bark was a pale white that in the moonlight shimmer like polished porcelain. Its dark blue leaves were pulsing with a navy-blue aura, and hanging on each branch were a number of the strange blue and purple fruits, he had seen at lunch. What were they called again? Moonlace fruits? Yeah that was it. He didn’t try one at lunch because of their vibrant colors.

Zephyr jumped up and plucked one of the strange fruits off of the branches. He was hungry. He remembered that Aunt Maria said that Mari would eat one of them for lunch, but then again Mari wasn’t entirely normal. He sat on the cliffs edge and contemplated whether or not he should eat it or not.

“I see you have found The Sacred Moonlace Tree of The Lost Lunar Souls.” said someone from behind him.

Zephyr dropped the fruit, and quickly turned around. Angie was standing there, in one hand was a large brown basket, and in the other was one of the strange purply/pink candles. She was smiling sweetly.

“Oh, hi Angie, and is that what this tree is? I am so sorry I thought it was just an exotic fruit tree.” He began to panic as he had accidentally dropped the fruit over the edge of the cliff.

Angie giggled, “No, you’re right it’s just and exotic fruit tree. I was just having a little fun with you.”

“Thank goodness.” He looked relived.

“Are you ok?” she walked over and sat next to him, putting down the basket and candle on the ground nearby.

“What? Why you would you think that I’m great.”

“Stop lying. You skipped dinner, despite claiming to always be hungry, and Aunt Maria told me that you asked about your parents. I thought you might want to talk to somebody.”

“I guess. It’s a little unnerving, knowing that my father never knew about me, and all that my mom went through.”

“Not easy huh?”

“No.”

“It’ll get better.”

“How?”

“Once you realize that there’s nothing that you can do about what happened, it’s a little easier to move forward.”

“You speak from experience?”

“Yeah.”

“So, who were your parents?”

“Rouge the Bat and Knuckles the Echidna.”

“Knuckles?” Zephyr asked slightly snickering. 

“Hey I don’t make fun of you father’s name! And besides he had a reason.”

“And what was that?”

Angie pulled off one of her long white gloves and showed Zephyr her hand. There on her hand right where knuckles were supposed to be were two large spikes. Zephyr eyes widened at this.

“My Father had them too, hence the name,” She put her glove back on.

“Well, I’m never fist bumping you.”

Angie burst out laughing, “Yeah, you really shouldn’t. I’d hate to break you hand.” 

“I’m sure you could. So, does that mean you’re a…”

“A half-breed? Yep, and proud of it. People might think that I looked freaky because of it, but I don’t mind. I’m as strong a minotaur, can fly like dragon and I’m as dangerous as both of them.”

“Wow.” 

“So, how was your first day at Camp Chaos?”

“Uh, it was interesting to say the least. I’m pretty sure that Aunt Maria wants to turn me in to a pretzel in combat training.”

“Oh, just wait until she makes you spar with either me or Mari. You might not survive.” She chuckled nervously. 

“Oh boy, I’m in big trouble, aren’t I?” Angie giggled again. “Do you think she’s a bit harsh? I mean I know how bad the situation is, but she had me doing things I didn’t even think I be able to do.”

“Zephyr when it comes to staying alive, you’re going to want to listen to her. She survived through one of the nastiest wars that the world has ever seen, a life threating illness, and cheated death on multiple other levels.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Dude, she’s died once.”

“You mean like her heart stopped but they got her back?”

“NO, I mean like she died and then came back years later.”

“How does that work?” 

“I don’t know. You’ll have to ask her. Good luck getting an answer though. She never talks about the day she died, or how she came back.”

“I can understand that. I wouldn’t want to remember the day I died either.”

“I don’t think anyone would, but it’s one of the reasons why people respect her so much.”

“I’ve noticed. Even Mari listens to her.”

“And why shouldn’t she? She’s her Aunt.”

“It’s just that I’m surprised, that an edgy girl like Mari would back down almost instantly to someone like Aunt Maria. I thought for sure she would rebel.”

“Mari is not an edgy girl!” Angie glared at him, “She’s just a little hard to get close to. Believe me she’s a sugar-coated marshmallow.”

“Really? Cause all I have gotten from her is black licorice.”

“She just needs more time. It’s never been easy for her to talk to other people.”

“You must really care about her, huh?”

“We grew up one floor down from each other, since the age of three. We’re practically sisters.”

“Wow,” Zephyr was surprised, but he was suddenly hit with a wave of confusion, “You sleep on the 7th floor?”

“yeah, why?”

“Are fathers used to be on the same team, right?”

Angie nodded, slightly confused.

“Then why don’t you sleep on the third floor, with me and Sparky? I know your mom was on the seventh floor, but wouldn’t you want to be with kids of your father’s friends?”

“My mom used to live on that floor and I guess I was just always up there. The only time my bedroom wasn’t on seventh floor was when Angel Island was still flouting.”

“Flouting island?” Zephyr stared at her, nothing but confusion etched onto his face.

“Oh, you must not know. Angel Island was the ancestral home of the echidna tribe. However, something happened, the island was sent in to the sky, and the echidna tribe was killed off. My father was the last of his kind.” She took a deep breath and the cheerful sparkle in her plum eyes seemed to dim, “Anyway, after my parents got married, they moved on to the island, where I was born.”

“Then why did they come back here if they had an Island to themselves?”

“Well… the island wasn’t the only thing that my father was left by his ancestors. For generations the Echidna tribe were the guardians of a magical relic of chaos energy, The Master Emerald. When it was destroyed and all the chaos energy was dispersed the island fell from the sky. My father lost his legacy and his home.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“It’s alright. I was young. I don’t really remember, but it isn’t the easiest thing knowing that I’ll never become a guardian.”

“A guardian?” 

“Oh, a guardian of The Master Emerald. I was supposed guard the Master Emerald after my father. Not going to happen now.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, was the Master Emerald like the stone that Mari used yesterday?”

“Sort of. It was part of the same energy line as the chaos emeralds. Except it was more of a stabilizer then a power source.”

“Chaos Emeralds?”

“Wow… you don’t know anything do you?”

“You don’t have to rub it in.”

Angie giggled again, “Anyway, yes the gemstone that Mari used yesterday was a Chaos Emerald. The Master Emerald was like those just supersized and a lot more powerful…And it might have been an actual emerald.”

“Are you saying that the Chaos Emeralds aren’t emeralds?” 

“Emeralds are always green, that what makes them Emeralds, however their gemstone species, beryl, can come in many colors, but a deep vibrant purple isn’t one of them. I think they might be some kind of quartz, but that’s just a theory.”

“Wow, you can figure out what magical relics are made of?”

“With the right tools I can find anything. Besides it was just a matter a find out what kind of gemstones that came in all of the colors that the Chaos Emeralds are.” 

“That’s cool. You know your…”

“Not as dumb as I look.” She said quickly and coldly, and turned away from him.

“uhm…I’m sorry uh, I-I didn’t mean it like…”

“Zephyr the Hedgehog. Let’s get one thing straight. My father and I were NOT dumb, we’re just strait forward people that have big hearts. Sure, my father wasn’t the sharpest tools in the shed when it came to some things, but he was never an idiot. I want you understand that and I don’t want to hear you talking down to me like I don’t have a basic education. Are we clear?” she glared at him.

Zephyr Gulped, “As crystal.”

“Good. I can’t tell you how many people just assume things about me.” she turned away from him again.

“Like what?”

“Like I can’t read. That I’m nothing but muscles and a pretty face. That I’m very gullible, which I’ll admit I can be, but not always.” She took a deep breath, “It just goes on and on.” She sighed.

“Well, I know that all of those are dead wrong.”

Angie turn back to him, smiling, “Wow, you really know how to flatter a girl don’t you?”

“Wait what? I-I D-didn’t mean anything like that!” Zephyr began to panic.

Angie Burst out laughing again, “Zephyr, I’m teasing!”

“Oh…” Zephyr said, but suddenly his face fell.

Angie quickly noticed his expression; it was a mixed of worry and utter defeat. “Is there anything else on your mind?”

“What no, I’m fine,” Zephyr quickly said, trying to pass off a smile that was clearly fake.

“Don’t lie to me.”

“OK… maybe I’m a little worried.”

“About what?”

“Well, When I first left Birchtown, I thought that the worst-case scenario was I was going to find their graves and maybe a family friend, but never anything like this.”

“It’s a lot to take in, isn’t it?”

“yeah.”

“Life can throw you a loop and you just need to take it one step at a time. When my Father died…” Zephyr’s ears flicked up and he quickly turned to Angie, “It wasn’t easy for me or my mom. I know going to be hard for you, but you just need to slow down.”

Zephyr just nodded, not knowing what to say. He felt sorry for her, but he didn’t know how to comfort her. He had never been in this situation before. 

“Well, it late and I’m tired.” Angie said as she got up and stretched, “Your dinner is in the basket. I thought you might be hungry. Goodnight Zephyr.” She turned around walked back down towards the house.

“Good Night.”


	4. Two Steps Forward

The weather was still warm, but the trees had unexpectedly decided to dawn their autumn cloaks. The bright green forest seemed to shift into shades of blazing scarlet, and honey gold almost overnight.

Zephyr had been at the mansion for about two weeks. His speed had improved for the most part and his hand-to-hand combat skills had gotten better. He could now stop without face planting, and survive over 20 seconds when sparring with Angie. However, he still hadn't learned any of the speedster abilities, such as phasing and his father signature move, the spin-dash.

One partially sunny afternoon, Zephyr had just finished combat training with Aunt Maria, and had decided to take a walk through the fields. He noted all of the variety of fruits, veggies, and herbs they were growing. There were carrots, potatoes, strawberries and even peanuts growing their little shrubs close to the ground. On the arches that lined the pathways grew green beans, grapes of every color and strange blue/indigo flowers with gold details on their edges. They looked a little like morning glories, but unlike morning glories they opened but never seemed to close. At the end of the rows was the herb garden, there was mint, basil, and a bunch of other plants that Zephyr didn't recognize.

"HEY! ZEPHYR!"

Zephyr turned around and saw Damian, and Angie walking towards him. "Hey, Damian, Angie what are you doing?"

"Were going down to the sea shore to collect shells, shallow berries, corpse kelp or whatever we can find." Angie said.

"And maybe if we're lucky we might get to watch a starfish eat." Damian said with great enthusiasm.

"Well, now that sound exciting," Said Zephyr.

"Yeah, starfish pin their prey down with their legs, then throw up their stomachs to surround their food, and then they suck their stomachs back inside of themselves, with the food inside of it." Damian said with bright eyes and a big smile.

"Cool," Zephyr said not entirely sure what to do with this information, "How do you know that?"

"I read a book," Damian answered, nodding his head, incredibly proud of himself, before he continued towards the shore.

"And just when I thought I have heard everything." Zephyr said.

Angie giggled and snorted, "Yeah, Dami always got some random fact from something he's read. You'll get used to it."

"Guess I'll have to."

"So, are going to join us?"

"To the shore?" Zephyr's body suddenly became tense, and his face became uneasy.

"Yeah," she noticed his face, "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, why do you ask?"

"You can't swim. Can you?"

"What? oh, no I can swim, not very well, but I can."

"So, what's the problem?"

"Water makes my skin crawl, I'm just not comfortable being wet. Ma said it might be because I had a drowning incident. When I was a baby, I fell into the water and when I came back up, I wasn't breathing."

"Oh, I'm sorry I shouldn't have asked."

"It's alright, you didn't know."

"So, is that no? Because we're staying really close to shore, the deepest we're going is the tide pools. I don't trust Dami any further out."

Zephyr took a deep breath, water freaked him out, but Sparky and Aunt Maria were busy with something in the mansion's library, and Mari was busy on a supply run in Equinox City. So, his choices would be close to the water and have people to talk to or be far away from the water and completely alone.

"As long as I don't have to go into the water." Zephyr finally said.

"Deal."

________________________________________________________________________________

Damian leaned over the edge of one of the aqua marine tide pools, that rested under the salty white sea cliffs. He could see a whole other world underneath the water's crystal-clear surface. Shiny shells of delicate colors rested on the sugar snow sand at the bottom, with small fish and crabs swimming and scuttling around them.

Most children would stick their hands into the water and try to touch them out of curiosity, but not Damian. He was too scared that he would hurt one of the creatures, or mess up the already too perfect picture in front of him.

He heard footsteps coming from behind him and turned his head. His honorary sister Angie and the newcomer Zephyr, were walking down the shore towards the pools. He jumped to his feet and ran over to them.

________________________________________________________________________________

Ange and Zephyr walked down the seashore. The turquoise waves crashed on to the sugar snow sand turning into foamy white sheets.

"So, we're going to the tide pools?" Zephyr asked.

"Yep," Angie answered.

"Where's that?"

"Just under the sea cliffs."

"Where's that?"

"Remember the cliff we talked on the first night you got here?"

"Yeah."

"That was one of them. The cliffs over the tide pools are sort of like it. The only difference is that the cliff we were on dropped straight down into a part of the sea with really strong currents and sharp rocks."

"Ok, I'm never going up there again."

"If you don't jump off you don't need to worry about it, beside you're getting much better at stopping."

"Thanks."

"No problem, but that's also another reason why if you're not a strong swimmer you're not allowed to go far into the tide pools. Just beyond them is the sheer drop, from the cliff we were on. You don't want to slip on the rock and get caught in the current."

"Noted," Zephyr suddenly became even more unnerved, as a gruesome thought popped into his mind, "Has anyone drowned, there before?"

"I don't think so. At least not recently. After Mari's mom inherited it, only the league members and close family and friends have been on the grounds. However, I can't be sure about before she owned it. So, it is possible."

"That's unsettling."

"Yeah, I guess it can be, but I have only seen one spirit around here, so I wouldn't worry about it."

"Wait...What?"

"Angie! Zephyr! Are you coming?!" Damian shouted, as he ran towards him. He grabbed Angie's hand, "Come on! There aren't any starfish, but there are tons of pretty shells and I haven't even checked the shallow berries yet!"

Angie laughed and let Damian pull her towards the pools, "Ok! Ok! We're coming! We're coming!" and Damian dragged her off.

"What did I just hear?" Zephyr thought, and he followed the others towards the pools.

Damian leaned back over the pools, and started to gently pick up the shells. Angie was helping him, not to stir up the water that much, and Zephyr was leaning against the cliff wall; far away from the water.

Zephyr looked out into the thrashing waters. Even though being so close to so much water made his stomach do flips and cork screws, he couldn't deny that the Lunar sea was truly a sight to behold. Its colors were vibrant, and it was shinier than most gemstones he had seen.

Suddenly a quick gust of strong wind rushed past him, ruffling his fur. "What was that?" Zephyr thought.

Sure, with the sea came wind, everyone knows that, but this gust was different. Most of the wind around him blew inland, yet this gust seemed to move in multiple different directions, and Zephyr could have sworn he had heard it... trilling? He quickly looked in the direction that the gust went and saw it go up and over a large pile of sea rocks.

Curiosity, moved his feet forward, eager to find the strange gust. As he climbed up the pile, he quickly forgot where he was; the world faded away. But when he reached the top he quickly snapped back into reality, when he saw that on the other side of pile was a sheer drop straight into the sea. He nearly threw up, looking down into to choppy blue sea, that was veiled with spiderwebs of sea foam.

"Zephyr look at what we found!" Damian shouted.

He completely forgot about the strange gust and quickly turned around to join the others. He didn't even notice that some one's invisible eyes were watching him, from beyond.

________________________________________________________________________________

That evening everyone was gathered in the dining room, for dinner as they always did. Zephyr had come to enjoy working in the kitchen with the others, and due to him being raised in a restaurant, he was also a big help. He was good at flavor combinations and with the herbs that they grew in the finest quality he could experiment with such combinations as much as he wanted. Most of those experiments made a quite the impression on the others. Some of them meals he had prepared made Damian ask if they could keep him.

They were all sitting around the dining table. The meal served was noodles spiced up with soy sauce, garlic, and olive oil, all boiled in a veggie soup, and a side of boiled broccoli and salty shallow berries. They were all talking, eating, and Mari was quiet as usual.

"Eh hum," Aunt Maria cleared her throat and the table went silent, "Everyone, I have made a decision."

"What's that, Aunt Maria?" Angie asked.

"Marisol will begin training Zephyr in the spin-dash tomorrow." Aunt Maria said before sipping her tea.

"I'm sorry...What?!" Mari suddenly spoke up.

"Yeah, you want Mari to teach me?" Zephyr said with surprised.

"Yes, I do." Aunt Maria calmy spoke.

"No offense Aunt Maria, but I don't want to die! I don't think I can be taught by her." Zephyr may have been at the mansion for a while but his relationship, or whatever you could call it, with Mari had barely changed since he got there. She always seemed to be hostile, and watching his every move. Although he wouldn't admit it, she kind of scared him. Not to mention he wasn't able to shake the annoying nickname she had given him.

"For once I agree you Zipper." She turned to Aunt Maria, "I cannot teach him. I'm mediocre at the maneuver at best."

"Marisol."

"I can't teach people in general. Much less someone who can't stand still for more than thirty seconds!"

"Marisol!" Aunt Maria raised her voice. She sighed deeply before continuing, "I know that you can have a short patience and I know you don't have that much experience with teaching..."

"So, I shouldn't be teaching!" Mari interrupted.

"Marisol, let me finish," Her eyes narrowed at Mari, and she took deep breath, "This is something that Zephyr needs to learn, and you are the only person here that can do the move and you know how to do it properly. I can't teach Zephyr as I have only used it once, and that was when I had both of my legs. Teaching is a skill that you will need in your future, so you will practice it by teaching Zephyr the spin-dash and enhancing his reflexes. Do you understand me?"

"Yes, Aunt Maria," Mari murmured.

The rest of dinner continued in silence.

________________________________________________________________________________

"I honestly don't know If I want to learn to Spin-dash anymore." Said Zephyr.

"Are you really that nervous about Mari teaching you?" Sparky asked, as he installed another part into blue plane. He then turned to Zephyr who was lying face up, in the grass. "She's not someone to be scared of."

"No offense Sparky but have you met her? She trains 24/7, barely says anything, and pop out of nowhere. She's scary as heck!"

"No offense taken, but your being pretty closed-minded Zephyr."

"How? I know you have lived with her for a while, and that she's used to you, but it's been two weeks and she's still so hostile."

"First off 'a while' is an understatement. Second, the reason she isn't hostile towards me because I was practically raised as her second younger brother. You're a newcomer who has only been here for a few weeks, while everyone else was either born or have lived for a majority of their lives here. Thirdly, Mari's had really bad experiences from people from the outside. It's going to take more than a few weeks for her to consider you someone she can trust."

Zephyr Turned to Sparky, confusion and concern on his face, "Wait, bad experiences? What do you mean by that?"

"Uhm...you know...uh...I'm not the person you should be talking to about this. If you're really worried about her teaching you. You should be talking to Aunt Maria." Sparky said, clearly uneasy.

"Ok," Zephyr said, not entirely sure on whether to push the subject further. He got to his feet and began to walk away, but he quickly turned around, "Uhm...Where you think she is?"

Sparky flashed a smile, "Try her room, 6th floor, bright red door on the left."

"Thanks!" Zephyr rushed off.

________________________________________________________________________________

Zephyr walked up the dark brown wood steps to the 6th floor. He arrived on the dark green floor, lit with normal colored candle light. Over the past two weeks he had noticed that the candle shifted colors, from a purply/pink at night to a normal golden flame in the day. He looked around until his eyes caught the sight of a bright red door with a golden handled.

Behind the bright red door, Zephyr found a decently sized room. The walls, appeared to be made of the same white stone as the cliffs, just polished and smooth. The furniture, was a mix of older styles and some foreign culture that Zephyr couldn't recognize. There were wooden round chairs, a low to the ground rhombus shaped table, and a canopied bed. A large number of photos were hung on the walls, and set on the many shelves.

Zephyr slowly made his way through the room, taking in the details, such as the red roses, on the table and the flowing teal curtains on the other side of the room, that seemed to be covering something like a very large open window. He looked closer at the pictures, specifically the ones on the nightstand next to the bed. Most of them were photos of her with her teammates or other members of the league, but one on the night stand made him somewhat confused.

It looked like it was taken around the same time as the 6th floor portrait. It was of her, Mari's father, and a creature that Zephyr couldn't recognize. It didn't seem to have any fur, but rather rough blue/grey-ish skin, with bright crimson stripes and crests. There were deep dark hollow eyes, in its nose less face, and Zephyr thought he could make out the tip of a long tail, in the back ground of the photo.

"What is that thing?" he whispered.

Suddenly there was a growl coming from behind Zephyr. It wasn't all that deep and guttural, rather high pitched and icy, but still intimidating. He slowly turned around, and found on the bed was a small creature. Different from the one in the photo.

Curled up it couldn't have been larger than a watermelon, but with its long neck, tail, and two large silvery metallic wings outstretched on its back, it appeared much larger. Silvery and navy-blue scales coated it body, giving a very reptilian look. Its long narrow head, held a mouth full of sharp pearly white fangs, glassy faded eyes, and crowned with long-curved spikes. It continued growling, and its tail began to twitch, revealing loosely attached spines; ready to fire at enemies.

"Hi... whatever you are...I'm ok...please don't hurt me." Zephyr stuttered, as the creature's mouth began to glow, with a wispy white flame. Zephyr closed his eyes waiting for whatever the wispy white flame was to hit him.

"ESPER! That enough!" commanded Aunt Maria clear calm voice. Zephyr opened his eyes and saw the creature stand down. Its' wings folded on to its' back, and its' tail dropped, before it laid down on its' stomach.

"Uh...Thanks," Zephyr said.

"You're welcome, and you shouldn't worry about her. Esper talks a big fight but she won't hurt anyone," She said before, making a trilling like sound. The creature, that was named Esper apparently, flapped its wings, flew over to Aunt Maria, and perched on her shoulder.

"What is it?" Zephyr asked feeling a little safer as Aunt Maria had appeared to have trained Esper.

"She, Zephyr, not it, creatures like these need to be respected and have you really never seen a dragon before?" Aunt Maria scratched Esper on the head.

"A dragon? Where did you get a dragon?!"

"She was a gift." Aunt Maria walked thought the teal curtains gesturing for Zephyr to follow her. "Tea?" she sat on one of the chairs next a table that rested on a hidden stone balcony.

"Uh sure," Zephyr took a seat in the other chair.

"So, you were looking at my photos?" She asked pouring him a cup. "Sugar?

"Oh, yeah...sorry about that I didn't mean to snoop and no thank you on the sugar." Zephyr apologized as he took his cup.

"It's alright, as long as you didn't take anything. Did you find anything interesting?"

"Why?"

"Well, I saw you were quite interested in one on my night stand."

"Yeah, I guess I was. What is that one?"

"Oh, just a photo of me and brothers, maybe 15 years ago."

"Wait...your brothers?"

"Yes. Is there an issue?"

Zephyr didn't say anything. He just looked at her in utter confusion.

"We aren't blood related if that's what you're wondering. Not me at least."

"Oh..." he was still confused.

"Is there another reason why you came up to my room?"

"Uhm...Well... the thing is...."

"You're worried about having Mari as a teacher."

"No! sort of... *sigh*... yes."

"Zephyr you don't need to worry about it."

"Really? With how hostile she is towards me? She could kill me! Maybe if I got lucky only serious injuries. And she said it herself that she can't teach me...!"

"Stop right there. Zephyr teaching you isn't her problem. It's interacting with another living being that she doesn't know well."

"Well, if she just started talking to me, she wouldn't have this problem."

"Oh, Zephyr it's not that easy for her. She always hated being the center of anyone attention, ever since she was little. She's always preferred to bleed into the background. A favored skill for a spy but one that makes it difficult to form relationships. Haven't you noticed how quiet she is?"

"No, I barely notice her at all."

"That's the point, if you can keep your head down no one will bite it off."

"Who would want to bite her head off? Do cross-breeds really get a rep that bad."

"It's not just the fact that's she's a cross-breed, it's also who she's related to."

"You mean her father?"

Aunt Maria nodded again.

"But why? she's not him."

"It doesn't matter Zephyr, he was a threat, and anyone who is considered his ally is also a threat. Even a little girl." Her voice softened a little. She took a deep breath. "Zephyr, if you're going to stay here you will need to know the spin-dash and Mari will be teaching it to you. unless you rather me have her teach you weaponry."

Zephyr looked at her, not sure how to respond, but his face said everything. Clearly, he was going to choose the spin dash. He doesn't want be any near Mari with knives. "She's seen how to do it?"

"She's seen everything. Don't worry about it, Zephyr. Mari won't hurt you."

"Because you won't let her?"

"No. I doubt she could let herself."

________________________________________________________________________________

Zephyr was hiding in nearby bushes, his head poked out of the auburn leaves. In the valley below Mari was training on the sym glass field; this time she was fighting translucent glassy figures of mobians. He patiently waited for her to be done, remembering what happened last time he interrupted her. When the last glass mobian was shattered, Zephyr took a deep breath and forced himself to meet her.

________________________________________________________________________________

Mari wiped the sweat from her brow, and looked up at the hill to her right. A deep sigh filled her lungs, as she saw the blue fluff ball coming towards her. She didn't enjoy the arrangement, but she understood her Aunt's reasoning and Mari wasn't going to disobey her.

"Hey," Zephyr said trying to be friendly.

"hello," Mari said flatly, before an awkward silence fell upon them.

"Uhm...So...shouldn't we start?" Zephyr asked.

"Yes, we should," Mari walked off, "This is the part where you follow me." she called back.

Zephyr rolled his eyes and followed her. They went to the field next to the large lake Zephyr had walked over on his first day. There was a small round platform, and a box of various items.

"Ok, where do you want to start?" Mari asked already tired of this situation.

"Uh, what do you mean? I've never done this before," Zephyr said.

"The beginning, got it." She turned around to face him, "So, what do you know about the spin-dash?"

"That it's a move used by speedsters...uhm...?"

"*sigh*, what do you NOT know about the spin-dash?"

"Basically, everything that I'm supposed to do with my body."

"Well, you tucked in your legs and duck your head down..."

Zephyr was already confused, "Maybe you could do a demonstration?"

Mari seamed to freeze up, "Are you sure? I'm not the best form."

"Yeah, I find images easier to understand rather than words."

Mari sighed deeply and slowly took off her dark green vest jacket and the golden ring necklace, clearly uncomfortable doing so.

"Hold these, and be careful." She handed her things to Zephyr before turning away, to get into position.

"Got it." Zephyr said taking the things, "Don't worry I'll be...careful?"

Zephyr eyes widened as he looked at Mari's back. She had been wearing a cropped white shirt, under her vest jacket, that exposed most of her back...and something else. A scar. It was large. Shaped like a lightning strike. It started on her left shoulder blade, before creeping across the rest of her back like a spider's web. Was it some kind of burn?

"Uhm...Mar..." Zephyr was about to ask but stopped not sure whether he should ask or not.

"Ok, here's what you're going to do." She got on all fours in a runner's stance. She ducked her head down and in the next two seconds she was a purple and black ball spinning in place.

"Wow..." Zephyr mouthed.

Mari stuck out her legs and stopped herself. "Do you understand?"

"Yes, that really helped." Zephyr handed back Mari's things.

"Good," Mari walked away from him while putting her jacket back on.

Zephyr Quickly got on all fours and tried to do the spin himself, but ended up doing a single roll, and hitting his head.

"Zipper what are you doing?" Mari asked looking at him lying on the ground in an awkward position.

"Uh, trying to do a spin-dash."

"You're not ready to do the full maneuver."

"How, do you know? I'm faster then I look."

"You have never heard of this move before you got here. You don't have the stomach strength or endurance to do the move. Regardless of your speed," She turned around, "Come on."

Zephyr hopped to his feet, and followed Mari. She led him over to the round platform.

"Get on." She said.

"Ok?" Zephyr stood on the platform as Mari, went over to the box and pulled out, two black cups, a pitcher of water, a wash cloth and a large silver bucket. She filled the black cups about half way with water and walked back over to him.

"Put out your hands."

Zephyr did and she placed the cups in them readjusting his fingers so the cups were sitting in his palms.

"I'm sorry if I missed something, but what are we doing?"

"The only goal in this exercise is to keep the cups as full as possible. Got that?"

"Ok. What's the bucket and the cloth for?"

"You'll find out," She said as she hit a button on the base of the platform.

Zephyr's world began to rush past him, as the platform started spinning. Images twisted and folded on each other, as dizziness took hold of his senses. His legs quickly became weak and the next thing he knew he was on the ground, completely wet (much to his dislike), and couldn't open his eyes without the world looking like it was in a salad spinner.

"You alright?" Mari asked as she turned off the spinner and walked over to him.

"Yeah, just really dizzy. Why are we doing this?"

"Do you honestly think that you don't spin in a spin-dash? We're building up your endurance."

"Ok, got that." He lifted himself up off the ground, and stumbled when he got to his feet.

"Hold still," Mari grabbed his shoulders and steadied him, "You feel nauseous?"

"No."

"Can you do it again?"

"If it teaches me to spin-dash, yeah."

________________________________________________________________________________

"Ugh..." Zephyr laid over the silver bucket. His stomach, although now empty, felt as if someone had twisted and tugged at it from the inside. At least he found out what the silver bucket was for.

"You alright?" Angie asked, she was wetting the wash cloth, with water from the pitcher. She had shown up when the motion sickness started hitting.

"Do I look alright?" Zephyr groaned, "The teacher ditched when her student gets sick. Way to go Mari."

"You've been dry-heaving, for the past couple minutes. I think you're empty," Angie gently and slowly rolled Zephyr on to his back and place the damp cloth on his forehead. "Don't be too mad at Mari. She didn't want to get sick today. She's got enough problems."

"Get sick?"

"She throws up at the sight of throw up. That's why she asked me to come and watch you train."

"Oh...Really?"

"Yeah, I know it's hard to believe. The daughter of 'The Ultimate Lifeform', tosses her stomach at the sight of vomit." She rolled her eyes, "People just can't believe that! She's not a robot! She can have things that gross her out."

"Not a robot? She sure acts like one."

"Haha...is that what outsiders think? That every quiet kid is secretly a robot?"

"No. Not all the time. Wait a minute! Ultimate Lifeform? Since when was she the Ultimate Lifeform?" Zephyr shot up, but quickly became dizzy and fell back down, "ugh."

"Don't move like that again. You could cause yourself to dry heave again." She took the cloth and soaked it in the water again, before putting back on his forehead, "To answer your question, no she is not the Ultimate Lifeform. Her father was though, and with her powers she could definitely take up his mantle if she wanted too."

"Man, how come her dad had such a cool title?!"

"Oh, come on! Your father was dubbed 'The Fastest Thing Alive'. Don't you complain!" she jokingly fussed at him.

Zephyr chuckled at that remark. It was true and he shouldn't be upset, but that didn't stop him from joking. "Did your parents have any cool titles?"

"Oh, not really. My dad was sometimes called 'The Guardian of the Master Emerald' and my mom was called a 'Super Thief'. Nothing too flashy."

"I think those aren't so bad. Your mom was a thief?"

"Yes, my mom was a thief, a good one too. There isn't a thing on this planet that she can't swipe."

"What did she steal?"

"Anything that the League or G.U.N needed, like codes, secret weapons and things like that, but her favorite things to grab are gemstones or anything shiny enough."

"So, your mom was a thief and your dad was a noble guardian? How on Mobius did they get together?"

"My mom is a jewel thief and my dad had owned the biggest most powerful jewel on the planet. They were destiny."

Zephyr laughed at her joke. "I guess they were."

"Yeah, they drove each other crazy, but even through it all they knew they had each other's backs." she looked away from him clearly upset, "H-how your stomach?" she asked pulling herself together.

Zephyr looked at Angie. It was clear that she didn't want to go any deeper into the subject. "It's better. I think I can walk, but I'm going to skip lunch." He tried to get up.

"I don't think anyone will stop you, on that." She said helping him to his feet.

Zephyr, got to his feet feeling a still a little unsteady but it wasn't as bad as before. Thanks to Angie he didn't go tumbling back down to the ground.

"You ok?"

"Yeah, just a little dizzy. It's not bad though."

"Is he better?" Mari asked as she walked over to them.

"He'll be alright, but DON'T put him on the spinner again." Angie said.

"I won't, at least not today."

"That's all, I can ask for." Angie let go of Zephyr so he could stand on his own. She then walked away from them taking the silver bucket with her. "See ya'll later!"

Mari cringed at the bucket, clearly unsettled by it, as Angie walked past her. Zephyr nearly snickered.

Mari cleared her throat, "Well, I suppose we should work on something else. Come on."

________________________________________________________________________________

Damian moved the beads, on the mancala board and ended up tricking Angie into a pretty massive steal. Upping his score from 16 beads, to 34.

"Wait what?" Angie, said somewhat confused.

"How did that happen?" Said Sparky. Both he and Angie were playing against Damian.

Damian giggled and waited for them to make there move.

"I don't know what to do here Sparky." Angie said.

"Nether, do I Angie. I can't believe we're getting schooled by a 5-year-old." Sparky said, making Damian giggle.

Suddenly they heard the loud wooden creaking off the old carved entrance doors. Then footsteps. Zephyr walked in; arms wrapped around his stomach.

"Hey guys." He when over the nearby couch and flopped on top of it.

"Hey, Zephyr," Angie said, "Is your stomach alright?" she walked over to him.

"Sore...I have never done so many sit-ups in my life." His voice was muffled by the pillow his face was in.

"Yeah, try not to laugh tomorrow." Angie joked.

"I don't think I'll be able to move."

The creaking sound of the doors were heard again then Mari walked in. Damian hopped from his chair and ran over to her.

"Mari, what did you do to him?" Angie asked.

"I trained him." Mari answered flatly as she scooped up her brother into her arms.

"More like tortured." Zephyr mumbled. "Why were you even having me do this?"

"Because your core needs to be strong enough in order to resist all of the centrifugal force, that happens when you spin. If you don't, you'll start out great but then fly all over the place like a ragdoll." Sparky answered.

"Don't my powers handle that?"

"No." Mari said.

"Super speed does not mean super strength, Zephyr." Angie explained, "There are some things that you will still have to work for."

"Did anyone leave anything they need outside?" Damian suddenly asked.

"Why?" Zephyr asked confused.

"It's going to rain."

"How do you know?" Zephyr asked.

"I just have a feeling."

"Good thing I picked up the equipment then." Mari said.

"Well, I'm going make dinner," said Zephyr, as he picked himself off the couch.

"You sure?" Angie asked.

"Yeah, I need to cook. It will help me relax."

"Can I help?" Damian asked, slipping out of Mari's arms and down to the ground.

"Sure, Damian."

"YAY!" Damian ran over and grabbed Zephyr's hand and led him over to a book case, *click, click, click,* the book case moved to the right opening up a new door.

Zephyr was slightly startled, but quickly shook it off. He knew that this place was practically a haunted house attraction and by this point nothing really surprised him.

Angie was about to follow them, but she stopped and looked back at Mari, concerned. She was rubbing her forehead and her left ear was twitching.

"Mari?" She asked, letting her voice soften.

Her friend stopped rubbing her forehead, and turned to her; the ear was still twitching. "hmm?"

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm just tired." Mari said before walking out of the room.

Sparky and Angie shared concerned looks. Both in the lounge and later at dinner when Mari was absent. They knew what was happening.

________________________________________________________________________________

Damian was right. The next day it was pouring. It was raining so hard it looked like there was blizzard outside, and it wasn't without thunder and lightning. Zephyr was staring out the lounge that had a large window. He was very sore, but he would walk it off.

"Zephyr? You in here? Breakfast it ready." Sparky asked as he walk into the room.

"Coming, Sparky. You don't have tell me twice when it comes to food." Zephyr said, as he hopped off the couch he was sitting on.

Sparky laughed, "I figured."

Suddenly loud thunder roared and raddled the walls. Sparky cringed at the sound.

"You ok?" Zephyr asked seeing his friend's expression. The two of them walked down the hall, towards the dining room.

"Yeah, it just catches me off guard sometimes. I've always hated these storms."

"What do you mean these storms?"

"Well...I'm sure you know that by now, this isn't really a normal building, right?"

"Of course, I do. With all the moving walls, holograms, freaky color changing candles, plants glowing at night and the secret passage ways."

"Yeah, well you'll come to find that weather is just as weird as mansion and forest beyond it. We get these storms every few months and they can go on for days, but when they stop the house isn't even wet, and nothing is out of place."

"Weird."

"Yeah, Aunt Maria says they come from the Lunar Sea when its mourning, but I think that's just a silly legend. What does a sea have to mourn about?"

"Don't look at me. When it comes to water, I'm clueless."

The two of them turned left and entered the dining room. Inside was Angie Damian and Aunt Maria. Angie was putting breakfast on the table, while Aunt Maria watched Damian scribble on a piece of paper.

"Good morning," Aunt Maria greeted.

"Morning Aunt Maria," Zephyr and Sparky said in unison.

"Morning ya'll," Angie said.

"Morning," said Damian.

"What's for breakfast? It smells great!" Zephyr said as he took his seat.

"Toast and bacon. Oh, and eggs if you want those." Angie said, a little grossed out.

"Do you not like eggs?" Zephyr asked.

"Well, when you consider the fact that a good bit of my ancestors hatched, you sort of lose taste for them."

"Point taken."

Angie giggled, and took her seat.

Zephyr looked around the dining room, noticing that someone wasn't there. "Hey where's Mari?"

"Damian where's your sister?" Aunt Maria asked.

"In her room, she's having another migraine." Damian said.

Angie, Sparky and Aunt Maria all shared worried glances. Zephyr sensed something was off.

"Migraine?" he whispered to Sparky.

"Yeah, Mari gets them sometimes." Sparky whispered back.

"How often is sometimes?"

"Every few weeks sometimes more, sometimes less."

"How bad are they?"

"She can't open her eyes without throwing up."

Zephyr didn't need to know anything else. "Why did she have migraines? It must because of all the training and work she does. She really needs to chill out." He thought.

"I'll check on her after breakfast." Angie said.

"Thank you, Angelina." Aunt Maria said. "Zephyr, Sparky."

"Yes, Aunt Maria?" Said the boys in unison.

"Considering, that it is currently storming and Mari is unable to teach you. You both may work together, on discovering your limits today."

"Umm? Aunt Maria? Where are we supposed to do that? All the equipment was outside." Zephyr asked.

"The indoor training area, of course." She answered.

"Oh." Zephyr said. He was completely unaware that they even had one of those. He really needed to explore the mansion more.

"Well, sounds like we got a plan for today." Angie said.

________________________________________________________________________________

About an hour later Zephyr was running on a treadmill, that was very similar to the one he had run on his first day, just not as dusty. His legs invisible to the naked eye, blue lightning surrounding him in a protective web. The running form, that Mari had briefly shown him and Sparky had helped refined, made it much easier to break the sound barrier.

"Ok, that's enough." Sparky said. He was sitting behind a desk, with a holo-screen flouting above it.

Zephyr slowed down, and hopped off of the treadmill. "How was that run?" he asked, as he walked through the Training Hall towards Sparky.

The Training Hall was large space. It's walls, floor, and part of the ceiling appeared to be coated in a shiny metallic substance, that seemed to be able to morph into anything. In fact, the Treadmill that Zephyr was previously was on seemed to have already melted into the floor. Zephyr was still kind of weirded out and amazed by the room. Sparky said that the room was made out of the same stuff the Sym-glass field was, just thicker. He honestly can't believe that he missed such a big place.

"One of your better ones. Your levels were higher than usually, and you don't seem as winded. Which could mean your abilities are expanding." Sparky said, gesturing screen.

"Does that mean I'm getting faster?"

"Yep. You hit over 950 MPH."

"So, that's why I was so hungry this morning."

"Yeah, that would be one of the reasons. Man, at this rate, you just might surpass your old man."

"You really think so?"

"Yeah, with the right training, you'll be a master speedster in no time."

"I know that I still have to learn the spin-dash but to be honest I don't know if my stomach could handle it."

Sparky laughed, "Mari had the same issue, you'll get over it. But I'm not just talking about the spin-dash. I'm talking about all the other moves you father could use. Phasing, throwing his lightning, running on water, whipping up a tornado, speed clones. Heck! if you can convince her! Aunt Maria might even teach you chaos control."

"Chaos control, but that's a chaos move. I thought you had to have a connection to Chaos energy line in order to use chaos moves."

"Sort of, you won't be able to do most of the chaos moves as you don't have a natural connection, like Mari does. However, if you had a relic of chaos..."

"Relic? like a chaos emerald?"

"A relic of an energy line is just an object infused with said line's energy, and yes the chaos emeralds are relics of the chaos line. With a chaos emerald, you might be able to use it in the form of chaos control. Your father could use it, so you might be able to."

"Really? He could use it. I thought that only Mari's Dad could."

"Your, father could he just didn't use it that often. Left most of the chaos powers to Mari's dad."

"You really think I could learn how to use it?"

"With the right training yes, but you'd have to convince Aunt Maria to teach you. However, you might want to focus on your speed for now, so go grab some water and then well test your endurance."

"Aye, aye Captain."

________________________________________________________________________________

Aunt Maria, looked over the railing of the Library's balcony, and down into the Training hall. She watched the two boys laughing as they worked together. It brought a warm smile to her face. It had been so long since innocent laughter had been heard in that room. She sighed, and turned away from the balcony, walking deeper into the library.

The mansions' library wasn't like any other, normal library, sure it had things a normal library would have, like tall selves, tables, chairs, couple of potted plants, and of course an abundance of books; both old and new. However, this place also had things that weren't in normal libraries. Like the rest of the mansion, the dark wooden bookshelves would constantly rise, lower, move, and even exchange books throughout the day. The gentle flowing of the many waterfalls, the library held whispered into her perched ears.

She got to the center of the library, there was a large round table. It was made with the same dark wood that almost everything else was. The edge was carved, and dark green, gold and Indigo/purple gemstones were imbedded in delicate patterns. In the center of the table was a large column, that went up to the skylight in the ceiling, and had an abundance of purple and golden flowers growing on bright green vines that twisted and tangled around it.

She sat on one of the chairs. Took the communicator off of her wrist and gently placed it on the table. She went through her list of contacts before selecting one, and waited. Within a few moments the other side of the line picked up.

"Yello?" spoke a female voice that was slightly distorted due to the distance between them.

"Afternoon Sandy. How's things on the front? Is your husband dead yet?" Aunt Maria answered her friend for their monthly update to each other.

"Very funny. He's fine; hasn't gotten himself killed yet. However, things aren't as fine we're starting to run low on supplies and soldiers, so we've not been progressing as we should."

"How bad?"

"We're not losing any of territory, but were not gaining anything either. Moral is at an all-time low and we can't get anyone else to help. Scourge has got almost everyone believing his lies. At this rate it's only a matter of time before he reaches the forest. Maria it might be time to..."

"No, we can't. They're not ready."

"Maria, we can't wait that much longer. If we don't reveal the children to the world soon, we are going to be slowly suffocated by Scourge's forces. The kids will be the proof that what we have been saying is true and that will bring so many more people into our fold. They are the proof that the league was not disbanded but murdered. Don't you want justice for all of their deaths?"

"Of course, I do. But right now, isn't the right time."

"Then when? We're running out of time. The league is almost gone, Maria. Four are missing, eleven have been assumed dead. There are only five of you that are confirmed alive and that's including you. We can't keep the kids in the dark forever."

"They're not ready Sandy."

"Those kids have been training their whole lives for this and you're going to tell me they're not ready?"

"Not all of them."

"If you're talking about Damian. I'm NOT going to send a five-year-old on to the battle field. I'm not a psychopath."

"Not just him."

"What are you talking about? Did something happen? Did someone get hurt do you need me to get over there?"

"No. No, no one is hurt."

"Then what's the hold up?"

Aunt Maria sighed, "We found him.," and the line went silent.

"Maria, please tell me you're not joking."

"I'm not, nor would I try."

"So, the bloodline of the Blue Blur lives. Kid like his dad?"

"Like father like son."

"Wow, the troops will get a kick out of this."

"You might not want to tell them."

"Why?"

"Because there is still a chance that he won't want have anything to do with this."

"You gave him a choice?! Maria, that kid is the son of one of the world's greatest heroes, who has his father's powers. That kid is living proof for our cause. That kid has survived Scourge's wrath. That kid..."

"Is a Kid! A child! He's ten! He shouldn't have to be wrapped up in a war, at his age! He might not want to be a hero, Sandy."

"Maria, Charmy was six and your youngest brother was not even three, in the Equinox War."

"They still had a choice, on whether or not they wanted to be involved."

"Maybe we're past choices. I know you've worked with the kids and know their limits, but you haven't been out here. We're losing people, and not just on the battle field; they're leaving by choice. They've lost sight of what we're fighting for. With every member of the league that has fallen so has their hope. We need something for them to rally around again."

"He's had his powers for less than two months. He's not ready."

The line went silent, clearly surprise. "Ok, Train him first, but I'm not asking to send to him or the other kids to their deaths. I'm asking to tell people about them. Break the vow of silence."

"I..." Maria sighed, "I don't know."

"Maria please."

"I don't want them to see what's happening out there. I don't want them to see the hurt and loss of war. You know what this struggle has done to Mari. I don't want the others to feel that pain."

"I know, but you can't keep them safe forever," The line went silence for a moment, "Look how about a test run?"

"What do you mean?"

"Scourge has set up a storage silo near the farms outside of Equinox City."

"And? We're near them but I don't understand what you want us to do."

"This Silo is going to be taxing farmers, not just for their money but for a good percentage of their crops. What's going to be stored there will be used to help fuel a direct attack on the front. If he gets this thing running, he will have the resources to send a full-blown attack on our forces. 30% of our troops will be whipped out."

"And you want the children to take out the silo before he gets a chance."

"It will be good, field experience for them. Not to mention you'll be going at night."

"Under the cover of darkness?"

"Nobody sees, nobody knows. So, what do you say?"

"I'll let them decide."

________________________________________________________________________________

Zephyr walked up the staircase, in the dormitory. Aunt Maria had announced that there was a mission available at dinner, and that it was their decision on whether not to take it. The vote was almost unanimous, since Mari wasn't present; she was still recovering. Zephyr was excited and nervus. A mission, he would be following in his parent's footsteps. A mission, he would be going against a king...who had and army. He couldn't help but be worried.

"Was this the right move? Couldn't we just try talking to Scourge? No, what am I thinking? This guy murdered almost the entire League of Chaos. He concurred the world. He stole a happy family from everyone here. He murdered my parents. He doesn't deserve a second chance. Then why do I not hate him?" Zephyr thought, "I wish I knew I little more about this mission. Aunt Maria was so cryptic. Maybe Angie knows more. Aunt Maria did talk to her after dinner."

Zephyr changed his destination, from the third floor to the 7th. The Zephyr hadn't been to the 7th since his first night. He didn't like how dark it was and didn't want Mari to get the drop on him again. He felt relatively braver this round as it was still day time and, as far as he knew, Mari was down with a migraine.

The 7th floor was well lit, very different than last time. The walls were purple/indigo like he had suspected. Candles, with golden flames lit the floor, and made the richly colored doors visible. He glanced around, trying to figure out which door led to Angie's room. He was crossed between a glassy white door, with golden detailing and a hot-pink one with silver etching. Both seemed flashy enough for her.

"What are you doing here?" A voice came from behind him.

"Mari?" he quickly turned around. To see Mari, but she looked completely different.

Her quills were down and messy. Her brown eyes, seemed tired and strained. Her left ear twitched uncontrollably, while the other seemed limp. All in all, she looked terrible. Those migraines must be worse that Sparky described.

"Are you okay?" He asked, concerned.

"You should be resting, as soon as this storm is over, we're heading out." She croaked. He noticed her voice was horse and cracking.

"Oh, I just wanted to talk to Angie. Wait? How do you know about the mission? You weren't at dinner."

"I told you. Nothing goes on in this mansion without me knowing."

"Oh, right."

She looked him up and down, noting his fidgetiness. "Getting cold feet?"

"Uhm, of course not...what made you think that?"

"You're fidgeting. Is the news of a mission making you nervus?"

"No, it's not that. Sure, I am a little worried about it. It's just is this the only way? Sc...uhm...*he* may have had done really, really bad things, but a lot of people are really happy under his rule. Do really need to stop him?"

Mari glared, "Are you really asking that? Don't you know what he's done? Oh, wait who am I kidding, you wouldn't know, being raised as an outsider. You don't know anything."

"Hey, I do know what it really is like out there. You've lived in here all sheltered, you don't know how some people are."

"Out there is nothing but an illusion. You grew up in a very small town, one *he* most likely considers insignificant. So, *He* didn't need to do much in order to get the people there to believe his lies. He made an entire false story, and the world believed him. Everything you were taught about him is a lie."

"Maybe that's true but that doesn't mean we have to destroy everything he's built; he's actually helped some people's lives."

"And ended others. I shouldn't be auguring with you about this. You won't understand until you see it. So, I take since you're going on the mission you've made your decision."

"Decision? What, decision?"

"The decision on whether you're staying here or not."

"Why would I want to leave? This is my parents' work and legacy. I don't want to leave that behind."

Mari rolled her eyes, "You really are a fool," she muttered.

"Why do keep calling me that?"

"Cause, you can't see what's right in front of your face."

Zephyr's ears, flattened against his head, in an angry manner. His fists clenched. What had he done to her? Why was she so cruel? He would have lunged towards her if the hot pink door hadn't creaked open.

"Hey Zephyr," said Angie, she waved at him. Angie suddenly glanced up and her face grew concerned. "Mari?! What are you doing out of bed!?"

"I needed to stretch my legs."

Angie had rushed over to Mari, clearly concerned, "Stretching your legs or not. You should be in bed."

"I'm fine Angie."

"Your ear is twitching."

Mari looked away, "It's not as bad as this morning."

"Still, you should be in bed. Especially if you want Aunt Maria to give you a pass for the mission."

"Fine. I'll go back to bed if it makes you feel better. But I'm grabbing a snack first, I haven't eaten all day and I finally got my appetite back."

A light blue flash flared, making Angie flinch, and Mari was gone. Angie sighed, and kicked the floor, clearly frustrated.

"Angie?" Zephyr asked.

She took a deep breath, "Yes?"

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm okay now. It's just sometimes she makes me panic, and it gets on my nervus."

"Yeah, I've found out, she's good at that. I guess the House of Shadow the Hedgehog are good at that."

"Don't blame her bloodline. Her uncle is actually pretty perky and polite. Now, is there something you wanted to talk about? I've notice they you don't really come up this far, into the dormitory."

"Yeah, there is and I'm sorry for up here more often."

"It's okay, I know it can be a bit creepy up here at night. So, what did you want to talk about?"

"It's just this mission. Do you know anything more about it?"

"Feeling a little nervus huh?" she raised on of her brows.

"Sort of. I know where taking out a silo, but that's all. To you know anything more?"

"Besides for the basic plan, not really. We hack into the systems, turn off the security, infiltrate the building, plant some bombs, get miles away, and let the place blow. Nothing to out of the ordinary."

"You've done this before?"

"Not with live bombs, or in a real target, but I have done tons of practice runs."

"Ok... Do you think that this is a good idea?"

"What do you mean?"

"Maybe *he* isn't such a bad guy. Do we really need to fight him on this? Maybe we could just talk."

"Zephyr, I'm all for one giving a person a second chance, but don't you think we've tried that?"

"No, not really."

"We tried Zephyr. The league tried to talk to him many times. It never helped. My father, Aunt Maria, even Mari's father tried to talk him out conquest. The others gave up or never got a chance. The time for second chances is over. He's a psycho and we have to stop him."

Zephyr looked at the ground. Maybe Scourge really is psycho? Then why does he feel doubt?

"You're just nervus. Don't worry. You won't be doing this alone."

"Thanks Angie." Zephyr nodded and turned towards the stairs. The mission was tomorrow and he couldn't stop it.


End file.
